?Bahrain yesterday (September 25) were handed their maiden defeat in the handball championship during the ongoing 17th Asian Games in Incheon, in South Korea.
The nationals put on a fight in the first-half before going down 19-28 to Asian champions Qatar in their second round Group ‘A’ match played at the Seonhak Handball Gymnasium.
Salah Bouchekriou, the Algerian coach of Bahrain, started the game with his full strength squad as expected in an attempt to clinch their second successive win in the second round, and seal their place in the semi-finals.
Trio handball stars Hussain Al Sayyad, Mahmood Abdulqader and skipper Jaffer Abdulqader, who masterminded Bahrain past victories in the tournament, were unable to guide their nation against the stronger and skillful Qataris, who went ahead 13-11 at the break.
Left winger Hassan Al Samahiji was the top scorer for Bahrain with five goals, while Rafael Capote was the main inspiration for Qatar with a game-high eight goals.
Bahrain remained on two points from two matches, with one deciding game left against Kuwait today. This crucial game is scheduled to tip off at 2pm (Bahrain time).
It was the second successive win for Qatar in the second round, having registered a 25-21 win over Kuwait on Wednesday.
The Kuwaitis, who kept their semis hopes alive with a convincing 29-23 win over Taipei earlier yesterday, are now tied with Bahrain with two points each, two behind leaders Qatar. However, the Kuwaitis have a better goal difference going into today’s game against Bahrain.
In the other group, hosts South Korea and Saudi Arabia are closing in on berths in the competition’s final four after respective victories over Iran and Oman yesterday.
Meanwhile, Bahrain national sailor Abdulla Janahi was unable to maintain his good run yesterday in the Men’s Laser Standard Class at the Wangsan Sailing Marina.
The 26-year-old Bahraini was forced to retire from yesterday’s fourth race due to a technical issue. He then came sixth in the fifth race, thus maintaining his sixth place overall with 37 points.
Elsewhere, Bahrain’s national shooting team members Jamal Ali took 23rd place out of 52 participants with a score of 615 points in the men’s 50m rifle prone qualifying event yesterday.
Staged at the shooting range, which is located 20km away from the Ongnyeon International shooting range, Ali battled with a group of prominent shooters from 22 countries, including China, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.
In the triathlon event, Mohammed Al Ghais and Nawaf Al Daen were 17th and 18th, respectively, among 23 athletes.
Al Ghais completed the 1.5km swim, 40km cycling and 10km run in two hours, 10 minutes and 58 seconds, while Al Daen finished the challenge in 2:13:05.
The administrative delegation, comprising Bader Nasser, Ahmed Hamad and Yousef Abdulqader, attended the technical meeting of the athletics event, which gets underway tomorrow (Saturday, September 27).
