(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman's hopes of recording a second successive victory in the 2015 Asian Beach Handball Championship were dashed when the hosts went down 1-2 to Bahrain at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (SQSC) on Saturday night.
After Bahrain won the opening session 22-12 Oman struck back to win the second session 19-14. The Bahrainis then held their nerve to win the tie-breaker 10-4 and take the match.
Action from the match between Oman and Bahrain at the SQSC
The home team had gone into the game high on confidence after having convincingly defeated Vietnam 2-0 in its opening match on Friday.
Saturday's outcome was an improved performance from Bahrain after its 0-2 defeat at the hands of Qatar in its opening match on Friday.
Following Saturday's pulsating win Bahrain coach Esam Abdullah commended his players for a good performance and for recovering well after having conceded the early initiative during the second set.
'I am pleased with this performance we put up a good display in attack and defence to beat a strong Oman team in front of its home fans' he told Muscat Daily. 'We made a fantastic start to clinch the first session quite convincingly but Oman came back strongly in the second session to make a match of it.'
Abdullah added 'We made a couple of mistakes in the second session and that allowed Oman to recover and put some pressure on us during the penalty shootout. But our players rose to the occasion and delivered the results when the team was in a bad situation. This win has given us a lot of confidence ahead of our next game against Pakistan.'
Bahrain got off to a flying start as it built up a 14-8 lead in quick time until the first timeout and went on to take the set with a gaping ten-point margin.
Oman bounced back in style by taking an early lead during the second set and enjoyed a 16-12 lead until the timeout. The hosts then consolidated their position and went on to grab the second set with a five-point cushion.
In the penalty shootout Bahrain struck early and led 8-4 at one stage before wrapping up a neat 10-4 triumph. Oman will resume its campaign on Monday with a game against Iran. Sunday is a rest day.
Other results: Men:
Saturday: Qatar beat Pakistan 2-0 Iran beat Vietnam 2-0; Friday: Pakistan beat Iran 2-0 Qatar beat Bahrain 2-0 Oman beat Vietnam 2-0.
Women:
Saturday: Thailand beat Turkmenistan 2-1 Vietnam beat Chinese Taipei 2-0; Friday: Thailand beat Vietnam 2-1.
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