ASIAN BEACH GAMES – Bahrain claimed a resounding 2-0 (18-14, 10-6) victory over Sri Lanka yesterday in Group A of the men’s handball tournament’s preliminary round in the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China.
The kingdom’s squad were in a class of their own in the contest as they remained undefeated with their third win from as many outings at Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster.
In attendance during the match were Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) secretary general and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) media committee chair Faris Al Kooheji, BOC board member and Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa Ishaqi, BOC board member and BOC Arab and international relations director Fajer Jassim Mohamed, Bahrain’s chef de mission in Sanya and BOC executive director of operations Ahmed Abdulghaffar, and Bahrain’s deputy chef de mission and BOC Arab and international relations head Maryam Mardana.
The Bahrainis’ triumph over their Sri Lankan counterparts followed their victories against hosts China and the Philippines, as the nationals remained in first place on their division’s table.
In yesterday’s other Group A fixtures, Iran also beat Sri Lanka 2-0 (18-12, 22-10) while China edged past Hong Kong 2-0 (16-14, 19-18).
Bahrain will be looking to continue their winning ways when they go up against Iran tomorrow at 11am in their penultimate assignment of this stage.
They then complete the preliminaries when they lock horns with Hong Kong on Monday at 6am. Both times are Bahrain.
The kingdom’s representatives are hoping to be amongst their division’s top two teams following a single round-robin to make it through to the semi-finals, scheduled for Tuesday next week.
The gold and bronze medal contests will then be held on Thursday on the concluding day of this year’s Asian Beach Games.
Against Sri Lanka yesterday, Bahrain fell behind 6-10 midway through the opening set but two-point goals from Adam Alnasheet and Komail Ghuloom brought them level once more.
After a spin shot from Mahdi Ali later made it 14-all, Bilal Basham and Ali also fired in spin shots to give the nationals an 18-14 edge, and they held on until the end of the period.
Bahrain then made the most of their early advantage with a strong start to the second set, going up 4-0 with efforts from goalkeeper Abdulla Alzaimoor and Alnasheet.
Spin shots from Ali and Ali Alhayki then gave them an 8-4 cushion, and Alhayki added another two-pointer to extend their advantage.
Sri Lanka’s Mannapperuma Mudiyanselage pegged the final score with his own spin shot in the period’s closing seconds.
Alnasheet finished as Bahrain’s top performer with eight points in the contest, while Ali and Alhayki contributed six points apiece.
Basham chipped in with four in the win, while Ghuloom and Alzaimoor had two points each to round off the Bahrainis’ scorers.
Priyantha Chandradasage led the Sri Lankans with six points in defeat.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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