Bahrain shift focus to Olympic bid

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team have little time to rest after claiming the bronze medals in the recently concluded 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship, which was hosted by the Kingdom.

The Bahrainis must now quickly shift their focus to their Paris Olympic Games 2024 qualifying competition, which is scheduled to take place in March.

The nationals are one of 12 teams divided into three Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQT).

The stacked field of top handball nations will be vying for only six available spots at the Olympics later this summer.

Bahrain are in the same OQT as European powerhouses Spain and Slovenia, as well as South American giants Brazil.

The second pool features Croatia, Algeria, Austria and either Sweden or Germany; while the third pool is composed of Norway, Hungary, Portugal and Tunisia.

The matches are scheduled to take place March 14 to 17, with Spain, Germany and Hungary set to host the OQTs.

Bahrain need to finish in the top two of their pool to earn a place at the French capital. The men’s handball tournament at the Paris Olympics will feature 12 nations.

Five have already qualified, including hosts France, reigning world champions Denmark, Asian Men’s Qualification Tournament winners Japan, Pan American Games winners Argentina, and African champions Egypt.

Missed out The Bahrainis narrowly missed out on direct qualification after losing to the Japanese 29-32 in the final of their continental qualifiers held last October in Doha.

Bahrain qualified for the last Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 with their historic victory in the Asian Men’s Qualification event in 2019, also held in Doha. It was not only the national team’s first time competing in the men’s handball tournament at any Olympics, but it was also the Kingdom’s maiden appearance in any team sport in the history of the quadrennial sporting showcase.

At the Tokyo Olympiad, Bahrain turned heads and made it all the way to the quarter-finals.

They had won just one of their five games in the preliminary round, but showed they belong amongst the world’s top teams, losing by just one goal to Sweden and Portugal, and defeating Japan in their group.

In the last eight, the Bahrainis were ousted from further medal contention after bowing to eventual gold-medallists France.

Denmark won the silver medals, while Spain claimed the bronze. Bahrain’s roster for their OQT or their schedule leading up to the competition has yet to be announced by the Bahrain Hand ball Association.