The match between Bahrain and Kosovo was full of tension as the teams played each other to finish fifth or sixth in Group C of the IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Spain.

In the end, two identical halves saw honours even and Kosovan sporting history made again as the young side became the first-ever sports team from the nation to pick up a point at a world championship.

GROUP C
Bahrain vs Kosovo 29:29 (15:14)

Two halves of 15:14, one to Bahrain and then one to Kosovo, saw both teams end with a solitary point each from their 2019 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship preliminary group campaign and finish in fifth and sixth spot respectively.

Both teams left the court feeling like they had let their first win slip away in a frantic end to the 60 minutes which saw a last-second strike from Bahrain fail to cross the line in time as the final buzzer sounded at 29:29.

Kosovo had been three goals (28:25) and a man behind going into the final five minutes but they fought and fought and then fought again to come back, despite entering the last 90 seconds down by two (29:27).

But a breakthrough goal from Rinor Avdulli with his team still a player down nearly immediately brought his side back within one – a difference they had themselves over Bahrain in the opening minutes of the match.

A slow build-up from Bahrain on the next attack led to some emotions spilling over a little when Atdhe Basholli held Abdulla Ali in the midcourt, and both players were given two-minutes as the referees, and then a Bahrain time out calmed the situation down.

Bahrain then nervously attacked but a wild shot wide from Ahmed Fadhul hit the referee on the opposite side and presented a chance for Kosovo to grab an historic equaliser in the final 30 seconds, which they did as Kosovo captain Jon Muqolli passed down the left to play in Avdulli again who easily went through a porous Bahrain defence to equalise (29:29) with just over 20 seconds left on the clock.

However, this was more than enough time for Bahrain to put the game to bed once and for all and after a restart following a foul, the Asian team again worked the ball out to Fadhul on the right. He steadied himself and shot into the goal but the buzzer for the end of the game had gone just moments before the ball passed into the goal and nestled in the Kosovan net.

And in dramatic scenes, Muqolli fell to his knees in sadness at the apparent last-second loss, whilst at the same Fadhul also looked distraught with failing to score a winner.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Muqolli to IHF.info about that first-ever point. “We played well and tried to do our best. Right up until the last minute we were losing, but it’s a draw and that’s OK. We could have won it, but we made some mistakes in the attack and defence. We are sad though because we lost the previous games and that’s not OK.”

Both teams end the preliminary stage without a win and now have a rest day before starting the 17-24 placement round on Wednesday (24 July).

“I am disappointed with the result because I think we can do better,” said Bahrain coach Johann Halldor to SpainHandball19.com after the match. “We made many stupid mistakes, both in attack and defence and let Kosovo get back into the game after having acquired a small advantage.”

Best Player of the Match: Ahmed Fadhul (BRN)