Handballers Stay Hot At Asiad
TDT | Manama
Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain maintained their perfect start to the men’s handball tournament at the 20th Asian Games yesterday, beating Iran 34-20 for their second successive Group B victory.
A day after opening with a 43-20 win over Kazakhstan, the Warriors followed up with another convincing display at Toyoda Gosei Memorial Gymnasium.
After an even start, Bahrain began to pull clear and opened up a 9-4 advantage. Iran responded with two goals to cut the gap to 9-6, but the Bahrainis struck six unanswered to take a 15-6 lead into the break.
The Iranians made their strongest push after the restart, reducing the deficit to 17-10, but Robert Hedin’s men quickly regained control. A 10-2 run stretched the lead to 27-12 before they comfortably saw out the victory.
Salman Alshowaikh led the scoring with seven goals from as many attempts, while Ahmed Fadhul and Mohamed Mohamed added five apiece.
Hesham Isa and Mohamed Ali combined for 12 saves, with Isa stopping seven of the 13 shots he faced.
Attention now turns to tomorrow’s meeting with fellow unbeaten side South Korea at 11.30am, Bahrain time.
The Koreans defeated Kuwait 26-23 yesterday to remain level with Bahrain on maximum points in Group B.
The nationals round off their preliminary-round campaign against the Kuwaitis on Friday at 7.30am, before the quarter-finals on Saturday. The semi-finals follow on Monday, with the medal matches next Tuesday.
Bahrain are seeking a maiden Asian Games handball title after reaching the podium at each of the previous three editions. The kingdom took bronze at Incheon 2014 before claiming successive silver medals behind Qatar at Jakarta-Palembang 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
Their latest bid comes amid an impressive run of success under Swedish coach Hedin, beginning with Islamic Solidarity Games gold in Riyadh last November.
Bahrain then captured their maiden Asian Men’s Handball Championship crown in Kuwait before triumphing at the GCC Games in Doha.
Related Posts