HANDBALL – Bahrain barged into the semi-finals yesterday of the men’s handball tournament at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
The kingdom’s senior men’s national team booked their berth after outclassing their counterparts from Hong Kong 37-16 at Kasugai City Gymnasium.
The Bahrainis built a commanding double-digit lead at the half and never looked back, going up by as many as 23 goals late on and showcasing their prowess as one of the favourites in the competition to step onto the podium.
Bahrain will next lock horns with hosts Japan in tomorrow’s last four.
Their game is scheduled for a 9am start, Bahrain time.
The other semis fixture is between South Korea and three-time defending champions Qatar at 11.30am, also Bahrain.
The Japanese advanced to the final four after defeating Kuwait 37-32 in their quarters contest yesterday.
South Korea made it through with a 32-26 triumph against China, while Qatar followed suit after battling past Iran 31-25.
Tomorrow’s semi-finals will set the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on Tuesday, which will be the concluding day of men’s handball in Aichi-Nagoya.
Bahrain are hoping to secure their first-ever Asiad men’s handball gold, which has eluded them over the past three editions of the quadrennial Olympic Council of Asia spectacle.
They are repeat silver-medallists, having lost to the Qataris in the final of the Asian Games’ 2018 edition in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia, and then again in the 2022 Asiad in Hangzhou, China.
The nationals were also bronze-medallists in the 2014 tournament in Incheon, South Korea.
In attendance during Bahrain’s contest against Hong Kong yesterday were Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) board member and Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa Eshaqi, BOC sports project management director Lounes Madene, BOC executive director of operations and Bahrain’s chef de mission in Aichi-Nagoya Ahmed Abdulghaffar, BOC secretary general office’s director Shoof Almalood, and BOC Arab and international relations head Maryam Mardana, along with other delegation officials.
The nationals took control against Hong Kong with five unanswered goals, three of which were scored by Jassim Khamis, turning a 4-4 deadlock to a 9-4 advantage.
They rode their momentum into the interval when they built an 18-8 cushion.
After the re-start, the Bahrainis gradually extended the gap, going on impressive runs of six and seven straight goals with no reply each time.
Bahrain then took their biggest lead of the clash following an Abdulla Abdulkarim strike that made it 35-12 with just over five minutes to play.
Ahmed Fadhul later wrapped things up after firing in in the closing seconds to peg the final score.
Abdulkarim finished as the national team’s leading scorer with eight goals.
Khamis chipped in with six while three others contributed four goals apiece, including Mohammed Rabia, Ahmed Kadhem, and Hassan Mirza.
Fadhul and Sayed Ali Shubbar added three goals apiece.
Kin Wong paced Hong Kong with three goals in the loss.
Bahrain are coached by Swede Robert Hedin, who helped guide them to their historic maiden crown in the Asian Men’s Handball Championship, held in Kuwait City, Kuwait in January of this year.
Hedin also authored Bahrain’s gold medal triumphs at the fourth GCC Games in Doha, Qatar last May, as well as at the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games in November of last year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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