BAHRAIN bowed to Japan 24-27 last night in their second Group ‘C’ match of the preliminary round in the International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s Youth World Championship 2019, being played in North Macedonia.
The result was a setback for the Bahrainis in the under-19 IHF competition, having come after a victory against Nigeria in their opening fixture.
The contest was a re-match of the gold medal game in the Asian handball championship held last year, when Bahrain had won to be crowned continental champions. This time, however, it was the Japanese who were celebrating.
Despite the loss, Bahrain are still ahead of Japan on their division standings on goal difference.
The Bahrainis will be hoping to bounce back in their next fixture today. They take on hosts North Macedonia in a match that is scheduled to begin at 9.30pm, Bahrain time.
In yesterday’s game, Japan took the lead after 10 minutes and were in control right through to the final whistle.
The victors never allowed Bahrain to hold the advantage, though the score stood level more than once in the first 10 minutes. Once Japan opened a two-goal gap (6-4) off a breakthrough goal from Shota Fujikawa, they maintained the edge for the rest of the match.
Bahrain managed to come painfully close, within one goal, multiple times as the clock ticked on, but Japan always re-opened a clearer advantage and never allowed their opponents to equalise.
The Bahrainis put in a valiant fight until the very end, however. As late as the 60th minute, Bahrain still had the chance to level. At that point, the nationals were behind 24-26, and then Japan’s Shota Fujikawa scored to peg their final three-goal winning margin.
Qasim Qambar fiished as the top scorer for Bahrain with six goals. Mohamed Mohamed added another five, while Ali Ali and Muftaba Alzaimoor both contributed four goals.
Jasim Khamis chipped in with two goals, while Moayed Shuaib, Adel Afrooz and Mahdi Mahdi rounded out the scorers for Bahrain with a goal apiece.
Fujikawa and Taiga Tsutaya finished with five goals apiece to pace the victorious Japanese. Kosuke Yasushira and Shuichi Yoshida added four each.
The Bahrainis are one of 24 national teams from all across the globe in the biennial IHF tournament. These teams have been divided into four groups of six for the preliminary round of competition. Group ‘A’ features Croatia, Spain, Slovenia, Norway, Chile and Saudi; Group ‘B’ includes two-time defending champions France, Sweden, Hungary, Egypt, Chinese Taipei and Canada; and Group ‘D’ is composed of Iceland, Germany, Serbia, Tunisia, Brazil and Portugal.
After this opening stage, the top four teams from each group move on to the Round of 16 knockout phase. The bottom two squads will continue on in the classification brackets for 17th to 24th place, where the 17th-placed squad overall will take home the President’s Cup.
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