Qatar win handball thriller

The main rounds of the men' handball tournament got underway on Thursday with victories for Kuwait, Korea, Qatar and Syria at the Al-Gharrafa Indoor Hall. Qatar edged out IR Iran 27-24 in a tremendous match to keep up their 100 per cent record. There was little between the teams in the first half, with both sides refusing to let the other build a commanding lead.

The teams went into the break level at 12-12, although IR Iran had enjoyed 63 percent of the possession. Qatar's Croatian coach Ekrem Jaganjac called a timeout early in the second half to tell his side to be patient after seeing them attempt long range efforts or force killer passes in favour of a more solid build up.

It seemed to do the trick as Qatar then ripped apart their opponents in an excellent seven-minute spell that reaped six goals, four of which came from the trusty arm of Abdulla Saad AL Saad.

At 22-15 down, it looked like the game was running away from IR Iran, but they refused to give up and scored four unanswered goals, including two in a minute from Hojat Rahshenas, to get themselves right back in the match.

The tension was getting too much for some of the players and coach Jaganjac again offered some calming words to his players, this time sitting with Yousef Hussein Ashoor after he had been sin-binned for a rugby tackle.

IR Iran fought hard to grab an equaliser, but with AL Saad among the scorers again, Qatar held on for a thrilling victory. Afterwards, Jagaanjac said, It was a strong game and almost the same type we played yesterday." He said in reference to Wednesday's victory over Bahrain, "Iran are a very strong team, but they were not fit today. They looked too slow."

Defending Asian Games champions Korea beat Bahrain 43-29 in freak playing conditions. It's not often that the weather affects play at an indoor venue, so the players could be forgiven for looking bewildered when drops of water began falling on to the court midway through the game.

A combination of the heavy rain that fell in Doha on Thursday and a small leak in the roof were the causes of the problem. The game was halted twice to allow officials to dry the court and ensure players' safety.

Korea showed why they are defending champions with a clinical display of speed and accuracy. They never looked back after Lee Joon Hee put them 2-0 up after four minutes, a lead that they never relinquished. Lee Jae Woo and Paek Won Chul, who helped themselves to five and six goals respectively, looked unstoppable during the first half, which Korea led 21-15.

A similar story followed in the second half, with Korea's excellent passing cutting through the Bahrain defence on numerous occasions. Korean goalkeeper Park Chan-Young made several tremendous saves and prevented Bahrain from clawing their way back into the game.

Bahrain's Mahdi Madan and Jaafar Dawood joined Korea's Pael as joint top-scorers in the match with seven goals, but Korea eased to a 43-29 victory.

Bahrain coach Nabeel Al Shehab said, "I have to congratulate the Koreans. Today Korea's tactical discipline and technical skills were too good. They really dominated the whole game. We knew we were playing against a strong team, but the result of the game tells the story. We couldn't really stop them - and we couldn't defend, or attack either."

A star performance from goalkeeper Yousef Alfadhli helped Kuwait overcome Japan 35-24. Alfadhli was in inspired form, denying Japan time and again and the Kuwaiti ended up with an impressive 53 percent save-to-shots ratio.

Kuwait started strongly and cruised into an early 3-0 lead. Japan were up against a huge height and weight disadvantage and found it difficult to break down the powerful Kuwaiti defence. When they did, Alfadhli was often in the way, pulling off a number of world-class saves.

With a fantastic rearguard action, the Kuwaiti attack grew in confidence and finished the half strongly, scoring eight goals in the last 10 minutes with just two in reply.

At the break Japan trailed 19-10 and then had to face the frustrations of their coach Ivica Rimanic, who was obviously disappointed with the way his team were playing.

In the second half, Kuwait continued to overpower Japan with Abdulaziz Al Zoabi helping himself to seven goals from just eight attempts. Japan's day was summed up when Daisuke Miyazaki failed to score from two seven-metre throws in quick succession. It was hard on Miyazaki, as the 25 year-old was central to most of Japan's attacks.

Japan improved late in the game, but it was too late and Kuwait ran out 35-24 winners.

Afterwards, Japan's Seiichi Maeda admitted the superior height of the Kuwaitis was a factor. He said, "The sight of the Kuwait players was scary, and that made us quite nervous. We were not able to get into a good rhythm after that."

Kuwait's Ali Al Haddad said, "Japan are a strong team. That's why we couldn't play well in the first half, but we worked together as a team and came out winners. Our goalkeeper and defence made a big difference."

In the day's final match, Syria beat Saudi Arabia 34-25. Basel Alraeiss was in top form for Syria, scoring ten times from twelve attempts. Ahmad Mahamid also contributed eight goals.

By 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006