Bahrain Storm Into Asiad Handball Semis
Bahrain powered into the men’s handball semi-finals at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya yesterday with an emphatic 37-16 victory over Hong Kong, China.
The Warriors extended their perfect campaign to five wins from five at Kasugai City Gymnasium, the result moving them within one victory of a third successive Asian Games gold-medal match.
Swedish coach Robert Hedin’s side led 18-8 at half-time before pulling further clear after the break. Abdulla Abdulkarim top-scored with eight goals, while Jasim Khamis added six.
Goalkeeper Hesham Isa also played his part in a dominant all-round display, making 14 saves from 30 shots as the nationals conceded just eight goals in each half.
Early Control
Hong Kong, China struck first through Wong Kin and stayed with Bahrain during the opening exchanges, twice drawing level before Lee Siu made it 4-4 after eight minutes.
That was as close as they would get.
Ahmed Kadhem restored the lead before Khamis struck on successive fast breaks as the Bahrainis began to pull away. The advantage grew steadily from there, with Isa even scoring into an empty net to complete an impressive first half at 18-8.
There was no route back after the restart.
The team quickly stretched the margin and continued to pull clear. Abdulkarim led the scoring charge as the lead eventually passed 20, before Ahmed Fadhul completed the rout on a fast break in the final seconds.
Japan Await
The result took Bahrain’s tally to 172 goals across five matches, following their earlier Group B victories over Kazakhstan, Iran, South Korea and Kuwait.
Now comes the biggest test of their campaign.
Hosts Japan stand between Bahrain and another chance to compete for the one Asian Games handball prize that has so far eluded them. The two sides meet tomorrow at 9am after the Japanese advanced with a 37-32 quarter-final victory over Kuwait.
Three-time defending champions Qatar face South Korea in the other semi-final at 11.30am. The Qataris advanced with a 31-25 win over Iran, while the Koreans defeated China 32-26.
The kingdom are chasing the only medal colour missing from their Asian Games handball collection. They claimed bronze at Incheon 2014 before finishing runners-up to Qatar at both Jakarta-Palembang 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
Victory over Japan would give Bahrain another opportunity to finally turn silver into gold, with Tuesday’s final scheduled for 1.30pm. The bronze-medal match takes place earlier at 11am.
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