Bahrain eyes handball semis

Jakarta, Aug.22 (BNA): Bahrain will look to reach the handball semi-finals in the 18th Asian Games, being held in Jakarta/Palembang, when they face highly-favoured South Korea. This quarter-final clash is set for 10am (Bahrain time) at GOR popki cibubur sports hall, where the nationals hope to make it to the competition’s final four and secure a medal at the games. Despite missing two key players in their previous match against Iran after having captain Hussain Al Sayyad and Hasan Madan dismissed since the first-half, the Bahrainis dominated most of their game and emerged winners by a seven-goal margin to ensure themselves a place in the knock-out round. Bahrain’s head coach Aron Kristjánsson, who was appointed just before the games, is expected to introduce the same group of players who masterminded all Bahrain’s wins in the previous stages. The Icelandic coach will again rely on his goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain, who made crucial saves in the match against Iran, in addition to his defence Hasan Madan, Mohammed Abdulreda, Ali Mirtzsa and Mohammed Habib, while skipper Al Sayyad is expected to lead Bahrain’s attach. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Asian Shooting Federation president Shaikh Ali bin Abdulla Al Khalifa toured the Sports Village in Palembang and met members of the Bahrain shooting and bowling teams, who are presently gearing up for their respective competitions. In the most recent shooting event, Mahmood Haji and Husaain Abduljalil crashed out of the 50-metre 3 positions competition after coming 17th and 21st, respectively, in the qualifying stages. Haji started the qualifying contest by taking an advanced position, but his marks started to drop as he stayed on 1,149 points, just 10 behind the last qualified opponent. On his part, Abduljabbar was able to achieve a better personal record scoring 1,142 points to finish in 21st position among 32 participants. The women’s championships conclude today with 50m rifle event, where Bahrain’s hopefuls Safa Al Dossary and Sara Al Dossary look to reach the finals. Bahrain’s shotgun athletes Hasan Majed and Maryam Hassani arrived yesterday for their respective contests, which begin on Friday. The finals will be held on Sunday. The bowling competition starts tomorrow with Yousif Falah leading Bahrain’s hopes in the championships. Bahrain kicks off their campaign with two teams taking part in the trio contest tomorrow. It will be followed by the team event the following day when the team of Omar Al Madhaki, Osama Abdulrahman, Abdulla Abdulkarim, Ahmed Al Gaoud, Ahmed Al Awadi and Falah seeking podium.