Bahrain national handball team put in a high-quality performance last night to beat Lebanon 41-18 in front of a packed crowd  at the 17th Asian Men’s Championship at Khalifa Sports City in Isa Town.

It was a first round match of Group ‘B’ which includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, and China.

The tournament, hosted by Bahrain for the second consecutive time, also serves as a qualifier to the World Championships in France next January. 

Qatar, as world runners-up along with the top four teams will represent the Asian continent at the World Championship. 

Bahrain’s goalkeeper Hussain Abdulla put in a man of the match performance to make sure his team leads the table after first round while the attackers helped widen the scoreline. 

Lebanon looked like they would give Bahrain a tough contest at the start as they took the lead through Stefan Mirkovic. 

As Bahrain missed a couple of early chances, Abdulla put in decent saves to avoid giving Lebanon a wider lead until Bahrain’s Jassim Al Maqaba scored the equaliser. 

Mirkovic was once again the man of the moment as he gave his country the lead for the last time during the game. However, Bahrain’s attackers managed to find a good link against the Lebanese defence for Mohammed Mirza to equalise once again. 

A brilliant through pass to Shehab Fardan saw him score Bahrain’s third and give them a lead they did not let go of. 

Bahrain fought off the Lebanese attackers in very good fashion while playing a fast break to catch the Lebanese defence off guard. 

Bahrain widened the margin through goals by Habeeb Mohammed, Abdulqader Mahmood and Abbas Al Suleity to make it 7-3. 

Mahmood missed the first penalty of the match which saw Lebanon’s goalkeeper Hussain Saqer limp off injured and replaced by second choice keeper Sami Hangar. 

Bahrain were awarded a second penalty when Mirkovic fouled Bahrain’s attacker inside the seven-yard circle. Mirkovic was given a two-minute ban while Mohammed scored Bahrain’s penalty giving them a 10-4 lead.

Bahrain managed to maintain the tempo of the game ending the first half at 16-7.

The second half saw Bahrain fiercely attack from the beginning as Al Samaheeji scored from a third penalty.

Lebanon looked weak in all aspects of the game as Bahrain played a wonderful tactical game with three defenders around the zone and three attackers ready for the fast break which saw them widen the lead. 

Mirkovic, who was considered one of Lebanon’s most dangerous players, was shown the red card after his third consecutive two-minute ban which saw Lebanon play with one player less for the rest of the second half. 

Bahrain coach Fernando Barbito started rotating his players much frequently as the score widened. 

Barbito gave chances to Shehab Fardam, Salman Mirza and Saad Mahdi who did not disappoint at the end of the game – each bagged a couple of goals to further widen the lead. 

The other group games saw UAE hold off China 21-17 while Saudi faced a tough game to overcome Iran 26-21. 

Bahrain currently sit in first place with two points and a goal difference of 23 while Saudi and UAE are in second and third places with two points and a goal difference of five and four respectively. 

China, who are fourth, have no points with a goal difference of -4 while Iran sit in fifth position with a goal difference of -5. 

Lebanon are at the bottom of the table with a goal difference of -23. 

Group ‘A’ matches kick off today with Japan facing South Korea at 4pm and Oman facing Qatar at 6pm at the same venue.