BAHRAIN stayed in contention yesterday for bronze medals in beach handball and beach wrestling at the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China.
The kingdom’s beach handball national team lost to Qatar in the semi-finals of their men’s tournament and will take on Thailand today for a place on the podium.
Bahraini grappler Shamil Sharipov, on the other hand, bowed out of title contention in the over-90kg weight class but can still claim third place in his men’s beach wrestling event.
Also in action for the kingdom’s delegation in Sanya yesterday were the men’s 3x3 basketball national team, who fell just short of making it through to their competition’s quarter-finals.
In beach handball, the Bahrainis narrowly lost their semis assignment against continental powerhouses Qatar 0-2 (8-13, 18-20) at Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster.
After going down in the first set, the nationals put in a valiant effort to stay in the fight in the second and took a slim 18-16 lead with under a minute-and-a-half remaining on a Bilal Basham spin shot. But Amir Denguir equalised for Qatar with a similar effort, and after a Komail Mahfoodh penalty for Bahrain was saved, Abdulrazzaq Murad delivered the match winner for the Qataris with only seconds left on the clock.
Mahdi Ali paced Bahrain in the setback with 12 points, while Basham and Mahfoodh added six points apiece. Denguir spearheaded Qatar with 13 points while Murad had 10.
Bahrain’s bronze medal clash with Thailand is scheduled for today at 3pm, Bahrain time. It will be followed by the Qataris taking on Iran for gold.
In beach wrestling, Sharipov was one of four of the kingdom’s elite wrestlers who were in action yesterday at Sanya Bay Yuhai Club Venue Cluster.
He made it through to the semi-finals, where he lost by a fall to Seyedamirreza Sahraeimahali from Iran. Sharipov will now go up against Muzafar Alimovich Zhappuev of Kyrgyzstan in their bronze medal contest today.
Zhappuev lost to Lu Da of China, also by fall, in yesterday’s other bout in the last four. Sahraeimahali will take on Lu for the gold medal, also today.
Earlier yesterday, Sharipov won all three of his bouts in Group A of the preliminary round. He first defeated Pakistan’s Muhammad Gulzar 1-0, and then ousted Mongolia’s Altangerel Chinbat 1-0. He completed his sweep with a 2-0 triumph over Triloki Prasad Yadav of Nepal.
Sharipov rode his momentum into the quarter-finals, where he beat Jaspooran Singh from India 1-0 to make it through to the semis.
Amongst Bahrain’s other competitors in beach wrestling in Sanya, Magomed Sharipov and Magomedrasul Asluev both made it to the quarter-finals of their respective divisions, while Alibeg Alibegov did not advance from the group stage.
Magomed Sharipov lost to Muhammad Inam from Pakistan 0-2 in the round of eight of the 90kg category. He earlier took two of his three matches in Group A of the preliminaries, including a 2-1 triumph against Weng Luen Gary Chow of Singapore and 1-0 win against Ngo van Lam from Vietnam, earning his spot in the elite eight.
Asluev was competing in the 80kg class, where he lost 0-3 to Ali Gholami from Iran in the quarters. He earned his spot in the knockouts after winning twice from three bouts in Group E of the first stage. He beat Saad Al Hammadi of Qatar 2-0 and later outduelled Mudiyanselage Wijesooriya from Sri Lanka with a similar 2-0 score.
Alibegov lost all three of his contests in Group A of the 70kg division’s preliminary round. He battled hard but fell to 0-1 defeats to Shahram Mehraban of Afghanistan, Yoshiki Yamada from Japan, and Abdullatif Albakri from Saudi Arabia.
In men’s 3x3 basketball yesterday, Bahrain lost to Mongolia 12-15 in one of the four play-off games for berths in the quarter-finals.
All of the kingdom’s quartet of players scored three points apiece against the Mongolians, including Bogdan Dragovic, Austin Ajukwa, Nasser Almosawi, and Mohammed Kowayed.
Baljinnyam Ganzorig and Enkhtemuulen Erdenechimeg had five points apiece to lead the winners.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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