"Blue Hands" Face Strong Match Against Bahrain
The Kuwaiti national handball team concludes its group stage against Bahrain, while Talal Al-Rashoud competes in the hammer throw final. Mona Al-Farsi, Rashid Al-Taroom, and Mohammed Al-Otaibi compete in swimming, and Abdullah Al-Rashidi and Iman Al-Shamaa deliver outstanding performances in shooting.
Translated by Qiyas from النهار — Original source
The handball team will conclude its campaign in the preliminary round of Group 2 at the ongoing Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, at 7:30 a.m. today, when it faces Bahrain in a highly anticipated Gulf derby. The “Blue Hands” enter the match second in the group standings with four points, behind top-ranked Bahrain with six points. South Korea and Iran are tied with three points each, while Kazakhstan sits last with none. The top four teams in the group have officially secured qualification for the second round (quarter-finals), making today’s match crucial for determining final standings ahead of the knockout stage.
The “Blue Hands” began their group campaign with a well-deserved 26-24 victory over Iran, followed by a 23-26 loss to South Korea. They quickly regained their footing with a commanding 43-19 win over Kazakhstan, confirming their place in the second round and continuing their Asian competition journey. The team aims to deliver a strong performance against Bahrain and conclude the group stage on a positive note before moving to the knockout phase, which demands greater focus and effort to realize the team’s ambitions in the tournament.
In swimming, Mona Al-Farsi will compete in the women’s 50-meter butterfly heats, followed by Rashid Al-Taroom in the men’s 50-meter breaststroke heats, and Mohammed Al-Otaibi in the men’s 200-meter butterfly heats. Promising swimmer Khaled Al-Otaibi set a new personal best in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4:28.75 minutes, and later broke another Kuwaiti record in the men’s 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:07.14 minutes.
In athletics, Talal Al-Rashood will compete in the men’s hammer throw final at 2:00 p.m. In shooting, the mixed doubles pair of veteran shooter Abdullah Al-Rashidi and shooter Iman Al-Shammah delivered a strong and honorable performance in the mixed doubles skeet event, but fortune did not favor them as they failed to qualify for the medal round. The pair missed qualification by a single target, finishing their heats with 137 targets out of 150 shot across three consecutive rounds. The round-by-round results were as follows: Round 1 – 48 targets, Round 2 – 48 targets, Round 3 – 41 targets. With this total, the national team finished fifth in the overall heats standings, just one target behind fourth-placed India (138 targets), which secured the last qualifying spot for the final.
Meanwhile, squash player Ammar Al-Tamimi was eliminated from the singles competition in the round of 16 after losing to Pakistan’s Nour Zaman, ranked third in the world, with a score of 3-0. The match was competitive at times but ultimately decided by the opponent’s superior experience.
