HANDBALL – BAHRAIN powered to their second successive victory last night in the 11th Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship, currently being played in Amman, Jordan.
The kingdom’s youth men’s handball national team dominated against the host Jordanians 41-19 at Amman’s Princess Sumaya Hall.
The impressive result followed the Bahrainis’ 51-20 rout of India in their opening fixture on Thursday, maintaining their resounding start as two-time former champions of the under-19 Asian Handball Federation (AHF) tournament.
The Bahrainis led yesterday’s Group A contest from the opening whistle and were up 22-9 at the break. They kept on the pressure in the second half and never took their foot off the gas in closing out the 22-goal win.
Bahrain right-winger Mahmood Ahmed was named Man of the Match and was presented with an award post-game for his performance, which saw him fire in a sensational 10 goals.
With the result, the nationals remained in first place on their division table in front of South Korea on goal difference. The South Koreans also claimed their second straight triumph yesterday, defeating India 37-27 in another Group A clash.
In Group B, Qatar defeated Kuwait 30-19 while Iran won 28-20 against Saudi Arabia.
This year’s Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship also serves as qualification for the 12th IHF Men’s Youth Handball World Championship. The top four will secure their places as AHF representatives in the worlds, which take place July 29 to August 9 in 2027.
Today is a rest day in the tournament and Bahrain return to action tomorrow against Uzbekistan at 12noon. They then play their concluding fixture of this phase against South Korea on Wednesday at 4pm. Both times are Bahrain.
Following a single round-robin, the top four from each group march through to the quarter-finals, which will be held Friday. The semis are then scheduled for the following evening, setting the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on August 31. Classification affairs will also be held on the tournament’s concluding days.
In Bahrain’s win last night, they were first to double digits following an Ahmed goal on a fastbreak that made it 10-2. The nationals continued their strong showing heading into the break, and after the re-start, maintained their relentless attack.
The Bahrainis gradually added to their commanding lead over the concluding 30 minutes and went ahead by 20 goals for the first time following a fastbreak strike from right-winger Issa Al Babour. They later built their biggest cushion of 23 goals on three occasions in the match’s closing stages, en route to wrapping up the fine result.
Left-winger Mohammed Marzooq contributed seven goals for Bahrain last night while playmaker Ahmed Abdulla chipped in with five. Al Babour and left back Hassan Saif added three goals apiece in the win.
Abdelrahman Herz Allah paced Jordan with six goals while Mohammad Alfraihat scored five.
The Bahrainis are competing in this year’s Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship for the 10th time. They were continental champions on back-to-back occasions in 2016 and in 2018, while they also took the bronze medals in 2010.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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