Bahrain fought bravely before going down 26-25 to Portugal in their second Group B match of the handball competition at Tokyo 2020 yesterday.
Bahrain led the first half 15-14 and were dominant for most part of the period before the interval.
In a scenario similar to their first match against Sweden, Bahrain tied 25-25 with Portugal in the last minute of the game, before their opponents took the lead with the 26th goal. This was followed by a penalty throw that was saved by Muhammad Habib. Portugal then managed to keep the ball and ended the confrontation in their favour.
Bahrain’s goalkeeper Mohamed Abdul Hussein was the star player of the match, blocking 10 attempts to score. Habib scored eight goals while Hussein Al Sayyad managed to find the net six times. Other scorers for Bahrain were Ahmed Jalal (3), Hassan Al Samahiji (2), Mohamed Habib Nasser (2) and Mohammed Mirza (2). Ahmed Al Maqabi and Ali Mirza also chipped in with a goal each.
The match was attended by Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president and delegation head Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, BOC secretary general and deputy head of the delegation Mohammed Al Nusuf and director of mission Hamad Buheji.
Bahrain will next meet reigning champions Denmark tomorrow in their third Group B clash.
Denmark survived a scare before downing dark horses Egypt 32-27 in another game yesterday while European heavyweights France, Spain and Sweden also maintained their 100 per cent records in the men’s competition.
Denmark had scraped past Egypt after a penalty shootout en route to their world title in January and faced early pressure when the African champions stormed to a 15-14 lead after 30 minutes.
The Danes were a different team after the break, tightening their defence and creating more openings for their attackers as they went ahead for the first time in the match before opening up a three-goal advantage at 26-23 and pulling away.
Mikkel Hansen scored nine goals and Mathias Gidsel had eight while goalkeeper Niklas Landin made 14 saves, including two with his head that left him needing medical attention, to help the favourites make it two wins from two matches in Group B.
Earlier, double Olympic champions France rang in the changes after their opening win over Argentina to outclass Brazil 34-29 and put themselves in a strong position to make the knockouts.
The top four teams out of six from each of the two groups will advance to the quarter-finals.
It was Brazil’s second loss in as many games and their woes were compounded in the dying seconds when left back Thiagus Petrus was dismissed for an elbow to the head of Nikola Karabatic.
Group A rivals Germany responded to their narrow defeat by Spain with a 33-25 win over Argentina, though Alfred Gislason’s side endured a nervy finish after captain Uwe Gensheimer’s red card in his 200th game.
Spain entered their clash with Norway having beaten them in their previous eight meetings but the European champions had to work hard for a 28-27 victory with a last-minute penalty.
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