Beach Handball World Championship: Oman stuns Spain
Date
7/17/2016 1:16:43 AM
Oman pulled off one of the biggest upsets at the seventh Beach Handball World Championships on Tuesday night when it edged out European powerhouse Spain 13-12 in a thrilling shootout in the beautiful setting of Margaret Island in Budapest, Hungary.
Oman, which had gone down fighting to European champion Croatia in its opening Group B clash in the morning session on Tuesday, continued its impressive performance to stun the European Championship runner-up in the evening session. Oman clinched the first set against the former world bronze-medallist team after a close contest, winning 17-16, and in the next set, was neck and neck against its fancied rival before losing 17-19. It then clinched the shootout to record a memorable triumph. Nasr al Tamtami was the top-scorer for Oman with 15 points, followed by Asad al Hassani and Marwan al Dughaishi with nine points each. Ashraf al Hadidi contributed with eight points. At the final buzzer, there were rapturous scenes on court as the Omanis celebrated wildly. Back-to-back wins for Hassani's men Oman players carried on with their good form from Tuesday night as they recorded two back-to-back wins in its group on Wednesday. In the morning session, Oman, coached by Hamood al Hassani, outplayed Uruguay 2-0 (17-16, 17-16), which had finished runner-up at the Pan-American qualifiers, and then in the evening, blanked Australia 2-0 (17-16, 17-12). Tamtami was again the best player on court against the Uruguayans as he scored 13 points, while Asad al Hassani had eight points to his credit. Dughaishi scored five, while Usama al Kasbi scored four. With three victories on the trot, Oman's chances got a boost for a spot in the main round ahead of its concluding group engagement, against Hungary on Thursday. In Hungary, the top three teams from each group will advance to the main round with the best four from the main round forming the semifinal line-up. Meanwhile, in the evening session of the opening day on Tuesday, Ukraine got off the mark following its opening loss against US as it beat Bahrain 2-1 after a tense shootout (7-6) in Group A. In an African-Asian showdown, Egypt and Qatar played a heated affair with both teams letting their passion run over at times. Qatar eventually won the match 2-0. Defending champion Brazil asserted its authority with ease with a 2-0 win against the US. In Group B action, Croatia beat Uruguay 8-2 on penalties and Hungary beat Australia 2-0. In Wednesday's morning session games, Egypt edged past US 2-1 after a shootout (10-6) in Group A. Also, Qatar eased past Ukraine 2-0 and Brazil raced past Bahrain 2-0 in the same group. In Group B, Spain bounced back from its shock defeat to Oman to blank Hungary 2-0, while strong contender Croatia had to fight hard to beat Australia, winning 8-6 in a shootout.