?Bahrain today (AUGUST 23) look to clinch their only medal at the Second Asian Youth Games, being held in Nanjing, in China.
The under-17 handball team take on Saudi Arabia in the third-place match on the concluding day of the Games, as they search for podium finish.
Today’s game, which takes place at set to take place at the Nanjing University of Technology Gymnasium, will tip off at 10am.
Managed by national tactician Adel Al Sabba, Bahrain will head into their concluding game in the tournament hoping to regain some confidence after their heartbreaking 32-36 defeat to faourites Korea in the semi-final match on Wednesday.
Al Sabba will be banking on several rising handball players for today’s game, including Fadhel Al Haddad, who scored an impressive game high 10 goals against Korea.
Bahrain will also be pinning hopes on other promising talents like Hassan Madan, Hasan Al Adhab, Khalil Mubarak, Khalid Al Balooshi and Husain Maki.
Others expected to be part of today’s game are Mahmood Al Salatena, Qasim Hasan, Ali Shaalan, Zaher Omar, Nadeem Al Qattan, Abdulrahman Al Douky and goalkeepers Qasim Al Shuwaikh and Mohamed Farsan.
Saudi Arabia, who lost their semi-final match to Qatar 25-30, are also keen to sign off with a morale victory and secure podium.
The awarding ceremony is scheduled to take place today right after the final match between Korea and Qatar, which is due to commence at 12am noon.
Bahrain also sent three more teams to the far East for the nine-day continental gathering. They are table tennis, fencing and athletics.
Trio juniors – Mohammed Saad, Rashid Khamis and Khalifa Matar were in action yesterday on the concluding competitions at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.
Saad, the only national who made progress from Wednesday’s men’s 200m heat, was unable to continue his impressive show yesterday after coming sixth among eight athletes in 22.89 seconds.
Mohammed Al Ghool was the other Bahraini in the same event, where he made early exist after coming last in his heat.
Both Khamis and Matar competed in the high jump event, where Khamis finished seventh with his best attempt being 185 centimetres, while Matar managed eighth position with 180 metres.
The remaining Bahraini athletes in the fray were Zaynab Abdulhussain and Sara Al Ghais, both competed in the women’s 100m and 200m events, but were unable to qualify from their respective heats,.
In fencing, three players represented the kingdom – Hamad Al Atawi, Fadwah Al Motawa and Rawan Ebrahim, who all crashed out in two different events.
In table tennis, Bahrain had big hopes on their rising junior Alyas Alyassi, who reached the last-16 round before going down to Jing Yin of Singapore in a five-set thriller.
