ASIAN BEACH GAMES – BAHRAIN powered to a come-from-behind 2-1 (16-17, 21-20, 18-16) victory over the Philippines yesterday in their second Group A fixture of the preliminary round in the men’s beach handball tournament at the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China.
After narrowly losing the opening set and then drawing level by taking the second, the Bahrainis edged out their opponents in a tense shootout to maintain their winning start to the competition.
The nationals converted nine of their 10 attempts in the decisive session, where two of the Filipinos’ efforts were saved, including the last shot of Felipe Bayani Marasigan. Bahrain goalkeeper Abdulla Alzaimoor made the crucial stop and then delivered the winning goal to secure the hard-earned result for the kingdom’s side.
In attendance during the match were Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) secretary general and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) media committee chair Faris Al Kooheji, Bahrain’s chef de mission in Sanya and BOC executive director of operations Ahmed Abdulghaffar, BOC board member and Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa Ishaqi, BOC board member and BOC Arab and international relations director Fajer Jassim Mohamed, and Bahrain’s deputy chef de mission and BOC Arab and international relations head Maryam Mardana.
With their triumph, Bahrain continued to hold first place in their division with four points from their two victories.
They will be returning to action today when they face off with Sri Lanka at 1pm, Bahrain time. They then take on Iran on Sunday at 11am, before completing their schedule in the preliminaries against Hong Kong on Monday at 6am. Both times are also Bahrain.
In another Group A result yesterday, Hong Kong edged past Sri Lanka 2-1.
The men’s beach handball competition also features Group B, which is composed of Oman, Pakistan, Jordan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Thailand, Qatar, and Mongolia.
The top two teams from each pool following a single round-robin will make it through to the semi-finals, scheduled for Tuesday next week. The gold and bronze medal contests will then be held on the concluding day of this year’s Asian Beach Games on Thursday.
In the opening period yesterday, a Mahdi Ali spin shot with under two minutes remaining gave the Bahrainis a slim 16-14 edge, but Rey Joshua Tabuzo equalised with his own effort half-a-minute later. Ali and Bilal Basham then could not convert their two-point attempts that would have given them back the lead, and the Philippines capitalised, with Tabuzo firing in a one-pointer to end the set and take the 1-0 advantage.
The nationals then had a good start to the second period, going up 8-2 on an Adam Alnasheet spin shot. Ali later made it 20-16, but successive strikes from Manuel Lasangue Jr tied it once more. The Bahrainis were still able to make it 1-1, however, with Ali scoring with a one-point effort to wrap up the set and send the contest into the shootout.
There, the two teams traded jabs, leading up to Alzaimoor’s end-game heroics.
Ali finished as Bahrain’s leading scorer in the match with 19 points, while Basham chipped in with 10. Komail Mahfoodh contributed eight points, while Alnasheet and Ali Alhayki added six apiece.
Lasangue Jr had a game-high 24 for the Philippines in the loss, while Tabuzo added 11.
Bahrain’s delegation in the sixth Asian Beach Games features athletes in four sports, with 3x3 basketball, open water swimming, and beach wrestling joining beach handball.
Aside from those four sports, also to be held in Sanya are beach football, beach kabaddi, beach athletics, dragon boat, jiu-jitsu, sailing, speed sports climbing, teqball, aquathlon triathlon, and beach volleyball.
The kingdom’s squad are looking to add to their 11-medal haul in the past five editions of the Asian Beach Games, which have included seven gold medals, three silver and one bronze.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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