Qatar has owned handball as far as Asia is concerned. They won the last three editions of the Asian Cup and are also the defending champions at the Asian Games.
Yesterday, they took another step towards a possible second straight Asiad title with a convincing 27-20 victory over South Korea in the semi-finals.
The win earned them the right to clash with Bahrain in the title match on August 31, Qatar’s neighbours accounting for Japan 31-20 in yesterday’s second semi-final.
Valero Rivera’s boys are on a hot streak, having gone unbeaten in the Asian Games for five games so far. They would be hoping it continues when they clash with Bahrain in the final match.
Both teams were neck and neck during the first 11 minutes after which they were tied 4-4.
But Qatar hit a five-goal purple patch to take a commanding 9-4 lead by the time the game was 19 minutes old.
Qatar led 13-7 at half-time, a decent cushion that South Korea never looked like surmounting, although they made a decent effort towards that end by scoring 13 goals in the second half.
Ahmed Madadi was the star performer for Qatar with six goals, while Anis Zouaoui and Rafael Capote scored five each.
Qatar registered a 57 percent scoring efficiency by scoring 27 goals from 47 attempts, while South Korea had a 49 percent scoring rate.
Lee Hyeon-sik top-scored for the losers with seven goals, while Kim Dong-cheol had six and Hwang Doy-eop five.
In the second semi, Bahrain saw off Japan with a convincing effort to earn a shot at the title.
Hussain al-Sayyad was the top-scorer of the match with 10 goals, while Mohamed Ahmed had dour and Ali Merza, Bilal Askani and Hasn al-Samahihi three apiece.
For Japan, Jin Watanabe scored seven, while Tatsuki Yoshimo and Hiroki Motoki scored four and three, respectively.
Qatar’s Anis Zouaoui (left) takes a shot at the South Korean goal during their men’s handball semi-finalyesterday. Ahmed Madadi scored six while Zouaoui scored five goals in Qatar’s victory.
