HANGZHOU, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) — Despite a 40-17 victory over Kazakhstan on Sunday, China did not qualify for the boys’s handball semifinal on the Hangzhou Asian Games, with one win and two losses in the principle spherical Group II.
China survived the preliminary spherical with a gap win over Thailand and a defeat to Kuwait, earlier than struggling two straight losses to Japan and Qatar in the principle spherical, resulting in their early elimination.
Despite having exit early, China nonetheless saved no efforts to play of their sport towards Kazakhstan, and so they took the initiative with an 8-2 run and prolonged their momentum to win 40-17 to conclude their Asiad journey.
“We made some mistakes in previous matches which got us eliminated,” stated China head coach Shareika Aleh. “We made great efforts in the main round, but the opponents were too tough to beat.”
“We need to do a lot better in both offense and defense on the international stage, and try to adapt and improve through time,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kuwait secured two wins towards South Korea and Iran on Friday and Saturday respectively to qualify for the semifinal, regardless of dropping to medal contenders Bahrain 34-25 on Sunday.
Jang Dong-hyun scored a winner with lower than a minute remaining to carry South Korea 25-24 over Iran, whereas Qatar beat Japan 32-29 in a hard-fought match.
The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, with Bahrain taking up Japan and Qatar taking part in towards Kuwait. On the ladies’s facet, China will play South Korea, whereas Japan encounter Kazakhstan.