HANDBALL – BAHRAIN punched their ticket to the gold medal game yesterday in the men’s handball tournament at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
The kingdom’s senior men’s national team overcame a tough challenge from the host Japanese to win their thrilling semi-final clash 35-31 at the Entrio sports arena.
The Bahrainis needed to dig deep into their arsenal to take control in the second half and pull away for the narrow result.
“It was a very tough game,” Bahrain head coach Robert Hedin from Sweden said. “We knew that Japan would be very difficult to beat in their own country, but we played very well today with discipline over 60 minutes.
“We struggled a little bit in one-against-one, but we fixed it in the end.
“Japan are a very good team – they are very quick – and in defence, we can play better. We lost a little too much in one-against-one today, it was not tight enough, but we came back and made it good in the end.”
Bahrain set up a showdown with three-time defending champions Qatar in the final, which is scheduled to be played today starting at 1.30pm, Bahrain time, at the same venue. The Qataris secured their berth following a come-from-behind 32-30 triumph against South Korea in their final four clash yesterday.
The Japanese and South Koreans will thus lock horns for the bronze medals today at 11am, Bahrain time.
In attendance during Bahrain’s game yesterday were Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) vice-president and the kingdom’s delegation head in Aichi-Nagoya Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, BOC board member and Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa Eshaqi, and other delegation officials.
The Bahrainis are hoping to secure their first-ever Asiad men’s handball gold, and today’s title-decider will be the third straight edition of the Asian Games that the Bahrainis and Qataris will be battling in an all-Gulf final.
The nationals are repeat silver-medallists, with Qatar taking the 2018 final in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia 32-27 in overtime, before securing a third successive crown in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China with a 32-25 victory against the Bahrainis in the gold medal contest.
In their semis victory yesterday, Bahrain fell behind early but eventually got into their groove. Back-to-back goals from Hasan Madan and inspirational skipper Hussain Al Sayyad brought the game level at 11-all, and the two teams remained tied at 16-apiece heading into the break.
After the re-start, the nationals finally took control with a game-changing 4-0 run, sparked by Madan and capped by Jassim Khamis with just about a quarter-hour remaining on the game clock. That decisive rally turned a 20-21 deficit to a 24-21 lead, which they never relinquished.
Bahrain extended their advantage with five of the next eight conversions to make it 29-24, and Al Sayyad later gave them their biggest lead of six for the first time with a goal from six metres that made it 34-28 with just five minutes left.
They did well to close things out from there, sealing their berth in the title match.
Mohammed Habib Nasser was the Bahrainis’ leading scorer with eight goals, while Madan contributed seven and Al Sayyad, Khamis, and Ahmed Fadhul scored five each.
Kota Nakata led Japan with eight goals, while Daisuke Tanaka chipped in with six goals in the tight loss.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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