JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia lost the semifinal match against Kuwait 32-29 yesterday in the 13th Asian Handball Championship in Isfahan, Iran, and the chance to qualify outright for the 2009 Handball World Cup.
The top three finishers in the Asian tournament are guaranteed berths in the World Cup. The Kingdom now must win the knockout match for third place tomorrow against the loser of the other semifinal match between South Korea and Iran to have any hopes of reaching the World Cup for the fifth time.
Kuwait opened the first period with a goal in the second minute. The Saudis were made to play catch-up handball. Yasser Al-Shakour, Bandar Al-Harbi, and Hussain Ikhwan managed to put the Saudi team within 15-13. However, Al-Harbi missed a potential equalizer when he missed a free throw and Kuwait ended the period ahead by 16-14.
Mustafa struck for Saudi Arabia with a goal to open the second period before teammate Fathi Al-Mutairi tied the score 16-16 three minutes after Mustafa’s marker.
It was a close game from there with no more than 2 points separating both teams. The Saudis had leads of 18-17, 19-17, 25-23.
But Kuwait went on a 9-4 tear in the last 10 minutes to put away the match.
Out of the four group games Saudi won two against UAE 31-26 and Qatar 31-28, drew with Japan 28-28 and lost against South Korea, 31-30. Winning against UAE and qualifying for the semifinals earned each of the players SR 2,000 from the Saudi Handball Federation.
Meanwhile, the Bahraini Handball Federation lodged an official protest with the Asian Handball Federation, claiming Iran and Kuwait had fixed their match to keep Bahrain from qualifying. The Bahraini federation requested a replay of the tape for the match between Kuwait and Iran in which Kuwait lost a 5-point lead in five minutes and eventually the match. The 1-point margin of victory was enough to qualify Iran for the semifinal.
