?Bahrain routed Hong Kong 43-19 in their last main round match in the handball tournament at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta.
With yesterday’s impressive victory, Bahrain made a clean sweep of the group stage and main round of the tournament ahead of the semi-finals.
In the other divisional fixture, South Korea beat Iran 34-28 to book their berth in the semi-finals.
Bahrain had clear control over Hong Kong right from the start as they took a 5-2 lead on a Mahmood Abdulqader goal on a fast break.
Sze Ming Kuo brought Hong Kong to within 5-7 but the Bahrainis responded with six unanswered goals capped by a Hasan Al Fardan throw from six metres on the right wing.
Bahrain continued their onslaught all the way into the half-time break. By then they had stretched the lead to a daunting 21-11 on another Abdulqader fast break.
The second 30 minutes was just as one-sided as the first as Bahrain enjoyed their biggest leads of the afternoon.
They first doubled the lead to 26-13 following a Mohamed Ahmed fast break. They continued to pile on from there on.
An Abdulqader goal from the seven-metre line assisted by Bilal Askani made it 34-16 and the Bahrainis cruised the rest of the way, scoring nine more goals while conceding only three.
Abdulqader finished the game with an impressive 14 goals while Husain Mohammed added six and Al Fardan five.
Ali Salman and Askani contributed four goals each, Mohamed Abdulredha three while Mohamed Ahmed and captain Hussain Al Sayyad had two each. Mohamed Merza rounded the scorers for Bahrain with one.
Second-string goalkeeper Isa Ahmed did a fine job standing in for regular stopper Mohamed Abdulhussain, making with 16 saves.
Kuo paced Hong Kong with six goals while Ka Him Chan added three.
Bahrain topped Group Two standings of the main round with six points while Hong Kong finished last with no wins.
Bahrain, coached by Aron Kristjansson from Iceland, now await the results from Group One of the main round to find out their semi-final opponents.