Bahrain’s national beach handball team had a perfect start to their title bid in the Fourth Asian Beach Games in Phuket yesterday (November 15).
The nationals defeated bitter rivals Kuwait 2-0 in the opening game at Saphan Hin beach to top five-team Group ‘B’, which also includes Pakistan, India, Thailand and Bangladesh.
The game a well-contested affair, but Bahrain proved the better of the strong side in both halves, going ahead 15-10 in the first-half, then repeated the same score in the second and deciding period.
Mahmood Mahdi top scored for Bahrain with nine goals from 11 attempts. He was assisted by Jaafar Mohamd (4 goals), Bilal Askani, Abdulla Salman and Sayed Shehab Ahmed (1 each).
The Bahrainis, under national coach Khalid Al Hiddi, was also pinning hopes on Fahad Mohamed, Husain Al Qaidoom, Mohamed Fardan, Jaafar Hasan, Mohamed Ahmed and goalkeepers Jaafar Mohamed and Husain Al Qaidoom.
The beach handball tournament has been rescheduled as Mongolia and Maldives pulled out of the competition, bringing the number of teams down to 10.
They were divided into two groups of five teams, with each group winners and runners-up reaching the semi-finals knock-out stage.
Bahrain will next play hosts Thailand today (November 16) at 11am (Bahrain time) in their second group stages match. The nationals have already played the Thais earlier this week in a friendly game, which ended in favour of the latter 2-0.
Bahrain also sent seven other teams for the 10-day continental gathering. They are beach football, beach handball, beach volleyball, athletics, sailing, swimming, triathlon and weightlifting for the 10-day Games.
In the beach football event, Bahrain resumed training ahead of their opening game tomorrow against Uzbekistan in their three-nation Group ‘D’, which also has China. China and Uzbekistan met in the group opener yesterday, when China picked up a deserving 4-2 victory.
Bahrain coach Joao Almeida of Portugal hopes to capture a victory against the Uzbeks to keep his chances alive in the competition.
His squad includes Ayoob Naseeb, Ebrahim Hasan, Mohammed Ashoor, Thani Al Dossary, Jasim Al Dossary, Isa Al Dossary, Abdulla Abdullatif, Mohammed Al Ghawi, besides goalkeepers Salah Salman and Saleh Al Dossary.
There are 13 countries in the beach football event. They were drawn into four groups, and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, featuring elimination matches.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Al Qais made a new personal achievement in the triathlon championship yesterday by completing the event in eighth place in 59 minutes and 18 seconds. The triathlon started with a five-km run, followed by a 20-km cycling race and concluded with a 2.5km swim.
Bahrain’s five-member sailing team began their training yesterday under Tunisian coach Kacem Ben Jumia ahead of the first day of sailing action today, which gets underway at 10am.
The Bahrainis are taking part in three different classes, namely Abdulla Janahi and Ebrahim Duaij (Laser Standard), Mehanna Al Dossary and Mustafa Janahi (Hobi Cat) and Khalid Shuwaiter (Optimist).
The beach volleyball championship draw ceremony took place yesterday as Bahrain ‘A’ were placed in Group ‘A’ along with Japan ‘A’, Thailand ‘A’ and Iran ‘A’, while Bahrain ‘B’ team will play in Group ‘D’, which includes Qatar ‘B’, Iran ‘B’, Turkmenistan ‘B’ and Maldives ‘A’.
Both Bahrain teams will begin their title quest today at Karon Central Beach in this 43-team battle, in which only the winners of each group to book direct berths in the next round. The runners-up from each group will face third-placers to punch the second and last ticket.