Asian Beach Games: Oman handball team down Pakistan to reach final

Muscat: Oman handball team overcame a stiff challenge from Pakistan on penalties to book a place in the final of the handball competition at the ongoing Asian Beach Games in Danang, Vietnam on Saturday.
In a closely contested semifinal, Oman kept their cool to defeat Pakistan 22-21, 16-19, 7-4 to set up a showdown with regional rivals Qatar on Sunday.
Qatar reached the final after defeating hosts Vietnam 20-10, 24-18 in another semifinal.
Oman team, who are coached by Hamood Al Hasani, are unbeaten so far in the tournament and will carry that confidence into the final against Qatar.
In Oman’s victory over Pakistan, Nasr Al Tamtami was top performer contributing a total of 19 points after scoring 10 goals including special shots.
Said Al Hasani scored five goals while Marwan Al Hasani and Asad Al Hasani scored four and three respectively.
With Oman beach soccer team too reaching the final, there is a possibility of Oman ending their campaign in the continental event on Sunday with two gold medals, adding to a gold and silver won by the Sultanate’s athletic team.
Well prepared
Oman beach soccer team, meanwhile, under went a rigorous training session on Saturday with coach Talib Hilal Al Thanawi saying the aim is to win gold by beating Japan.
Talib Hilal, whose wards are looking confident after an 8-2 semifinal victory over Afghanistan, said: “The goal to win the gold medal.”
“The players are confident of achieving that goal and add to the top honours we won in the inaugural edition of the Asian Beach Games,” he added referring to Oman’s success in the 2008 Games held in Bali, Indonesia.
Speaking about their final match opponents, he said: “Japan are a good team and we have played them in several matches in the past few years. Our players have to show same commitment and play with the same confidence as they did against Afghanistan in the semifinal to achieve our goal.”
Oman, who are taking part in only four disciplines in the Asian event, have so far won just two medals -- a gold and a silver -- both won by sprint star Barakat Al Harthi-led Omani athletes. Barakat opened Oman’s medal account with a 60m gold before leading the relay squad to 4x60m silver medal.