Bahrain’s under-18 handball team winning the Asian Men’s Youth Championship 2018 held recently was highly commended after a 34-31 victory over Japan on Wednesday (September 26) in a crunch final in Amman, Jordan.

Despite having already secured a place in the World Championship in Spain after reaching the semi-finals of the continental event, the Bahrainis headed into the final with determination to win the trophy.

Backed by delegation head and president of Bahrain Handball Association Ali isa Esaaqi, Bahrain were unbeaten in all their matches throughout the competition, including a come-from-behind 27-23 win over Japan in the main round of the championship.

The Bahrainis, coached by national tactician Mohammed Al Muraghi, registered consecutive wins over Saudi Arabia, Oman and China in the first round, followed by victories against Japan, India and Jordan in the second stage, then eased past Chinese Taipei by a seven-goal margin in the semi-finals.

Spearheading the team was a group of young handball talents, including Adel Mohammed, Mujtaba Al Zaymour, Ali Jaffer, Mohammed Habib, Moayyed Shaib, Qasim Jaffer, Sayed Ali Bassim and goalkeeper Hussain Amin.

Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant secretary general and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) secretary general Abdulrahman Askar, along with other high-ranking sports officials, were given members of the team a big welcome reception on return from Amman on Thursday night.

Askar congratulated the team on this victory, which he attributed to the tremendous performance of the team and their players’ skills throughout the tournament.

He also noted the support of Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, and BOC President to the team, which contributed to this victory.