Sports Reporter/Doha
Qatar players celebrate after beating Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals at the Qatar Sports Club yesterday
Hosts Qatar are just one step away from retaining their title at the 13th Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship as they defeated Saudi Arabia 32-25 to set up a dream final against South Korea at the Qatar Sports Club here yesterday.
South Korea confirmed their final berth by beating five-times champion Kuwait 37-26 in the second semi played later in the evening. Thus the summit clash will be a revenge match for South Korea, who had finished runner-up after losing to Qatar 32-27 in the 2010 final at Tehran.
With this victory, Qatar have also qualified for the Men’s Junior World Championship in 2013. Qatar, had earlier booked their place in the last four following three consecutive wins, over the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan in the first round and two wins over Kuwait and Iran in the second round.
“I’m extremely pleased with the team’s showing. This was going to be a tough match and we were very much determined to win. Knowing that we have qualified for the World Championship is a big boost,” said a beaming Qatar coach Zovko Dragan of Serbia.
The hosts were in control of the proceeding right from the start, and providing them with the impetus early on was the tall Selvedin Omahic.
A 3-2 lead was quickly widened to 6-3 but the Saudi boys stayed in the hunt despite not drawing level at any point during until half-time
A Qatar player goes for the goal
However, a two point deficit (16-14) after the change of ends kept widening and the visitors never looked like regaining ground. Qatar stole six points in a row to go up 22-15 and thereafter never looked back.
They were even reduced to five men following a red card to Tareq al-Khateeb, five minutes from time but Saudi Arabia could do very little as the lead was widened to 30-23 by then. Omahic top scored with eight points while useful contributions of six and four points came from Eldar Memisevic and Hadi Hamdoon, respectively.
Others who got into the scorer’s books were Mousa al-Mousa al-Khalaf (3pts) and al-Khateeb (3pts). Nothing can be taken away from both custodians - Mirnes Groco and Abdulaziz al-Thafiri. If Groco was exceptional under the bar in the first stanza, al-Thafiri carried on well from where the former left after the change of ends.
For the visitors, Fadel al-Sulaiman top scored with seven points. Other players who stood out were Rami al-Mutairi (5pts) and Abdullah al-Abbas (4pts).
Coach Dragan was not at all bothered about whom his team was playing in the finals saying, “I’m not worried which team we play next. We have made it to the finals and want to retain the title,” he said before the second semi-final started.
The finals will be held tomorrow at 3pm.