In today’s semi-final between Bahrain-Saudi Arabia, with 7 seconds left and the game tied 25-25, the Saudis had a free-throw at the 9-meter line. Additionally, they had a 2-man advantage, so they had an excellent opportunity to win instead of having to play overtime! But with 4 seconds left, the Bahraini goalkeeper saved what was intended as the final shot, the ball rebounded out to a Bahraini court player, Saeed Jawhar, who then quickly heaved the ball the length of the court. The Saudi goalkeeper who was some distance in front of the goal couldn’t quite get back in time for the save, so the ball hit the goalpost and deflected into the net, at 29’59 !!! Bahrain won 26-25 and is through to the World Championship next January in Sweden.

VIDEO: Final seconds of Bahrain – Saudi Arabia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGZl3wPy888

Report in Gulf Daily News, Bahrain: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=271064

The stunned Saudi players now will have try to recharge the batteries for the third place game against Japan on Saturday, when they have one more chance to qualify.

Japan may have made a tactical mistake, trying extremely hard to keep up with the Koreans. They got close several times, but whenever that happened, the Koreans simply put in another gear and easily pulled away again. So the question is, will also Japan have spent their best efforts too soon, in a game where perhaps they did not have a serious chance. Now they also may have a tough time to come back! But it suggests that there will be tremendous fight for the remaining qualfying slot, and the Asian final between Korea and Bahrain may almost become a bit anticlimactic by comparison…

Today’s results:

Semifinal: Saudi Arabia-Bahrain 25-26
Semifinal: Korea-Japan 30-25

5th place: Qatar-Syria 31-30
7th place: Lebanon-Iran 23-35

Yesterday’s results:

9th place: China-Iraq 30-25
11th place: U.A.E.-Jordan 43-36