BAHRAIN had mixed luck yesterday on the second day of the 12th Arab Games, being held in Doha. The beach volleyball 'A' and 'B' teams posted the kingdom's only victories of the day, beating hosts Qatar and Jordan respectively.
In Group 'C', Bahrain 'B' of Hassan Marhoon and Ali Habib defeated Jordan 'B' pair of Ala'a Duqmaq and Ali Thamer 2-0 (21-10, 21-10) in just 25 minutes at Al Gharrafa Club's beach volleyball arena courts.
It was the second successive win for the Bahraini tandem, who registered a straight-set victory against Yemen in their opener. Bahrain 'B' team were placed in a relatively tough six-team Group 'C', which also features favourites Oman 'A', Morocco, Iraq 'A' and Yemen 'B'. Marhoon and Habib will play their third game today against Iraq 'B' team at 11.30am at the same venue.
Bahrain 'A' team of Hassan Aqeel and Ali Marhoon followed suit, beating Qatar's Ahmed and Malik 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in a 38-minute match played later yesterday for their second successive win in Group 'B'.
Aqeel and Marhoon, who started their campaign with a 2-0 win over Djibouti, will play their third game today against Iraq's Osama Sabbar and Mohammed Al Ouq at 10.45am. The nationals were also in action in six other disciplines yesterday. They were handball, volleyball, bowling, table tennis, snooker and shooting.
With the Bahrain shooters failing to finish on a high note in the women's 10m air pistol and air rifle singles and qualification events, the Kingdom had big hopes on the handball and volleyball teams who were in action later in the day. However, both squads were unable to register victories while facing some of the Arab region's best.
The handball team bowed to Saudi Arabia 21-18 in a well-contested Group 'B' opener held at Aspire Zone Women's Indoor Hall. Captained by veteran Saeed Johar, Bahrain headed into this 60-minute game hoping to begin their title quest with a victory.
Stronger
However, the Saudis proved the stronger of the two sides, taking a 12-0 lead at the break and maintained their three-goal advantage at full-time. Bahrain will face another stern test today when they take on Tunisia at 2pm in their second game in the group. The volleyball team also suffered a defeat at the hands of tournament's No. one Egypt 1-3 (23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 23-25) in a nearly two-hour match.
Bahrain's coach Nezar Al Shakili was banking on his duo spikers Sadeq Ebrahim and Fadhel Abbas besides other local talents. Al Shakili's squad now play Algeria tomorrow in their third game. In table tennis, Bahrain lost their men's team quarter-final tie 0-3 to Saudi Arabia, who will now clash with Morocco in the semi-finals.
Bahrain skipper Hamad Buhijji lost his match to Saudi Arabia's Naif Al Jadai 1-3 (8-11, 8-11, 1-5, 15-17) in a well-fought match. Bahrain's other representatives Mohamed Bushlelaibi and Mohammed Abbas, also went down to Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Al Abbad (7-11, 4-11, 5-11) and Khalid Al Harbi (9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11), respectively.
Mohammed Janahi missed an opportunity to grab the singles bronze medal after coming fourth overall. Janahi finished on 215 points, just a point behind bronze medallist Mansoor Al Awami of Saudi Arabia.
Egypt dominated the show, winning the gold and silver medals through Tareq Halni (221) and Kareem Sharif (217), respectively. The doubles event gets underway today at 10am and Bahrain will be taking part with three doubles - Yousef Falah and Janahi, Fawaz Abdulla and Mohammed Sultan besides Mahdi Assad and Mohammed Al Shawoosh.
In snooker, Mohammed Al Shaikh started his quest with a 2-4 defeat to Iraqi Sulaiman Abdmohsin in Group 'C' at Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation. Despite the defeat, Al Shaikh is still with a chance of making it into the second round, with two matches remaining in the group.