Thursday 26 / December / 2024
Muscat: Oman completed their campaign in the World Beach Handball Championship in Budapest finishing seventh overall.
Oman coached by Hamood Al Hassani had shown grit throughout the tournament but their opening loss to Croatia and defeat to Hungary in the final Group B match cost them a place in the main round.
Having topped the Consolation round, Oman had to play Egypt for the second time in the tournament for the seventh place.
Having beaten Egypt earlier, Oman were confident facing them once again, but the Egyptians proved stronger in this deciding match as they took the lead by winning the first set.
However, Oman bounced back in the second and forced a penalty shootout which was won by the Sultanate team convincingly.
Oman won the match 2-1, with scoreline reading, 16-20, 17-12, 6-2.
Bahrain, who had beaten Oman in the Consolation round did well to beat Uruguay 2-1 (12-18, 21-20, 9-7) to finish ninth.
Finishing eleventh in the order was United States America beating Australia 2-0 (21-17, 14-13).
Meanwhile, Croatia and Brazil were playing a final late Sunday. In the semifinals, Croatia defeated hosts Hungary 2-1 (17:14, 21:12, 11-10) , while Brazil progressed beating Qatar in normal time 2-0 (19-18, 16-15).
