BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA: Qatar continued its disappointing run at the IHF Junior World Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday.
They lost 27-28 to Russia in the first match of the President’s Cup, at the Dvorana Mirza Delibasic Indoor Hall in Sarajevo.
Kamalaldin Mallash opened Qatar’s scoring in the 40th second and Russia hit back through Roman Ostashchenko in the third.
Grco Mirnes returned to Qatar’s goal in the opening half for the first time in three games and he made some good saves.
Qatar’s Hamdi Ayed, on the right flank, proved to be a constant threat to the Russians.
Though they kept scoring regularly, the Russians hit back at every opportunity.
Russia scored six goals in the space of six minutes to make it 13-8 by the 24th.
Abdulaziz Althafiri replaced Mirnes at the beginning of the second half and he made an immediate impact.
Russia’s Alexey Pavelyev, Qatar’s Allaedine Berrached and Maamoun Saad were all given yellow cards and that slowed down the game a bit.
Qatar conceded a crucial goal in the 29th and the Russians defended with all their might.
With 19 seconds remaining on the clock, Althafairi made a long throw to Hamdi Ayed at the opposite end, but the Russians intercepted the move.
Qatar thus lost a golden chance to score and there were no comebacks for the team.
Qatar coach Dragan Zovko was disappointed with his players.
Zovko said: “I’m very disappointed in my players because they lost another game they could’ve won. Althafairi repeated the same mistake he did against Croatia. How can he act so irresponsibly during such a crunch game? I don’t know how to explain this loss.”
THE PENINSULA
