Qatar’s Rafael Capote tries to score a goal against Saudi Arabia during the men’s handball Group 1 match of the main round at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday.
Doha: Qatar handball team made it to the semi-finals after defeating Saudi Arabia 28-23 in their second match of the main round on the fifth day of the 18th Asian Games yesterday.
Rafael Capote scored six goals for Qatar while Yousef Ali and Anis Zouaoui bagged five scalps apiece in yesterday’s Group 1 match which took place at the Popki Sport Hall in East Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Saudi’s took the lead at 2-1 within the first three minutes and did maintained the lead despite the strong Qatari attack.
In the 10th minute, Saudis led 6-3 and Al Annabi fought back to level the scores at nine all in the 18th minute. Since then, Qatari players did not leave any chance for the Saudi Arabians to lead and Al Annabi dominated the rest of the first half, finishing at 16-10 points in their favour.
When they resumed, Qatar continued in the same fashion and scored back to back goals against the Saudis with Capote doing most of the damage. Saudi’s added 13 scalps in the second half against Qatar’s 12, but the first half lead meant Qatar won the match by 28-23.
With yesterday’s win, the Qatar have topped the group with four points. Al Annabi won their first group 1 match on Monday against Iraq (26-20). Japan who defeated Iraq in yesterday’s second Group 1 match (24-27) are in the second spot. Qatar will now meet Japan in their third and final group match, but the result will only affect Japan’s fate as only the top two teams of each group will gain direct entries to the semi-finals. Saudi Arabia will face Iraq in the other Group 1 match.
Meanwhile, at the Bulungan Sport Hall in South Jakarta, Qatar sealed another convincing win in the men’s volleyball competition.
In their second Pool F match yesterday, Al Annabi overcame India in a thrilling three-setter 25-15, 25-20, 25-20 to secure their top spot in the group.
Hammad Mubarak, Renan Ribeiro and Ndir Sadikh, with their dashing spikes, accounted for most of the points scored by Qatar in yesterday’s match and Mubarak, along with Belal Abunabot blocked a number of spikes made by Indians.
Qatar defeated Maldives in a similar manner on Monday and the two wins have earned them six points at the top of the table.
Qatar will meet Hong Kong in their final Pool F match tomorrow.
Archers Farhan Abdorabboh, Ahmed Al Abadi and Israf Khan competed in the men’s compound individual ranking round, and were placed 58th, 56th and 51st respectively.
Wrestler Bakhit Badr lost to Turkmenistan’s Shermet Permanov in the men’s 77Kg quarter-finals.
Today, at the JSC Beach Volley Arena in Palembang, Ahmed Janko and Cherif Samba will take on Sri Lanka’s Lakmal Medagedara and Sashimal Yapa in their final pool match. The Qatari duo is placed second in Pool B and a win against the Sri Lankans will secure their place in the round of 16.
Yesterday, the second Qatari pair, Tamer Abdelrasoul and Mehdi Sammoud lost to Iranians Arash Vakili and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun in their third and final Pool F match.
Young Qatari swimmers put up a strong effort at the GBK Aquatic Centre yesterday, but neither of them made it to the final rounds.
In the men’s 100m butterfly heats, 17-year-old Yacob Alkhulaifi finished second behind India’s Sajan Prakash with a time of 56.94 secs.
Fifteen-year-old Youssef Mohamed finished fourth in the first heat of men’s 100m breaststroke, clocking a time of 1:11.47.
Mohamed Abdelrahman won the first heat of men’s 400m individual medley with a time of 4:46.30 but the performance was not good enough for him to advance.
In the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay, Saidi Firas, Abdulaziz Al Obaidly, Youssef and Yacob Alkhulaifi finished second behind India, clocking 3:44.36.
