Bahrain won the President’s Cup with a narrow victory over Japan in the second match of the day in Vigo on Thursday. With the result, Bahrain equalled their position at the one other IHF Men’s Junior World Championship they have contested, in 1995. For Japan, 18th is the same place they took on their most recent participation, in 2015. 

17/18 PLACEMENT MATCH
President’s Cup Final: Japan vs Bahrain 22:23 (12:12)

It has been a difficult campaign for Bahrain at Spain 2019, as they came agonisingly close to defeating the likes of Portugal (27:29), Hungary (34:30) and Brazil (27:26) in the preliminary round, but ultimately fell short of an eighth-final berth. They arrived at the 17-20 placement round determined to do themselves justice and finish as high as possible on the final ranking – and the Asian Junior Championship bronze medallists did just that. 

When Bahrain and Japan met at the 2018 Asian Men’s Junior Championship, it was Japan who won the semi-final clash 20:17. Bahrain avenged that defeat with their one-goal victory, secured after a close 60 minutes. 

It was a goal from Ahmed Ali in the final minute that won Bahrain the match, after Japan equalised in the last 60 seconds. In a tense finish to the game, Bahrain were in front 22:21 in the 56th minute, and then neither side could find the goal until Shun Kawasaki did so for 22:22.

Though Bahrain had the lead when it counted, at the final buzzer, it was Japan who were more with the advantage throughout the game – otherwise, the score was usually level or with a narrow edge for Bahrain. As the first quarter came to a close, the match was equal at 6:6, and after the lead changed hands more than once, it was a level game at the break as well. 

The second 30 minutes saw much the same tightly contested story, with the sides taking turns with the lead until Bahrain claimed the upper hand with six minutes remaining and managed to hold on to the buzzer. 

The top scorers of the match were Ahmed Fadhul, with eight goals for Bahrain, and Masanari Hattori, with six.