HANDBALL – BAHRAIN bowed to Saudi Arabia 26-30 yesterday for their first defeat of the 19th Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship, currently being played in Chuzhou, China.
The kingdom’s junior men’s national team battled hard in the preliminary Group A contest and were within two goals with just under three minutes to play. But the Saudis were able to hold on until the final buzzer and closed out the narrow victory.
Despite the setback, the Bahrainis are still on track to make it through to the knockout phase. They will be looking to bounce back when they return to action on Sunday against Hong Kong at 9am, Bahrain time. They then play their penultimate fixture of the preliminaries against Oman on Monday before completing this round with a clash against China on Wednesday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 1pm, Bahrain time.
Elsewhere in the tournament yesterday, China defeated Chinese Taipei 36-29 and Oman beat Hong Kong 25-21 in Group A; and South Korea edged Iran 29-28, the UAE beat Qatar 29-24, and defending champions Japan routed India 47-14 in Group B.
At the end of this single round-robin, the top four teams from each group move on to the quarter-finals, which are scheduled for Friday next week. The semi-finals will then be held on July 25, setting the match-ups for the gold and bronze medal games on the championship’s concluding day on July 27.
Classification contests are also slated on each of the days of the knockouts.
In Bahrain’s loss yesterday, the nationals faced a 12-17 deficit at the break, and after the re-start, fell behind by as many as seven goals. But the nationals went on a 6-1 rally that got them to within two following a Mohammed Aadam goal, and later Ahmed Abdulla converted from the penalty stripe to make it 20-21.
The Saudis maintained control, however, and after Ali Jadeed brought Bahrain back to within 26-28, goals from Mohammed Saleh Alqaid and Abdulla Sami Al Sadoon closed the game out for their rivals.
Abbas Ali top scored for Bahrain with eight goals, while Abdulla chipped in with six and Aadam had four. Ahmed Eid contributed three goals and Ahmed Alsamahiji scored two, while Jadeed, Salman Al Showaikh, and Mahmood Yusuf each finished with a goal.
Al Qaid paced Saudi with eight goals while Ahmed Nabil Alobaidi scored six.
Bahrain are one of 13 youth men’s national teams in the competition, which is being organised and run by the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) in cooperation with the Chinese Handball Association. The championship also acts as the continental qualifier for the 26th IHF Men’s U21 Handball World Championship, to be held from June 23 to July 4 next year in North Macedonia.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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