UAE teenagers secure second win in Asian cup

Dubai: The UAE under-19 handball team defeated India 38-19 in the Asian Youth Under-19 Handball Championships in Jordan.

It was the second win for UAE after they beat Iraq in a group A match last week.

The team dominated the match from the start despite the Indians being on level terms at 7-7.

After that the UAE players never looked back and finished the first half leading 19-10.

During the second half, the team widened the gap to 28-14 before finishing 38-19.

Goalkeeper Khlifa Khalil was in a good form, while Marwan Abdullah was the team's top scorer with seven goals.

Bilal Al Mas scored six, Saud Khalifa five and Raid Saeed, Hasan Al Bloushi each scored four.

Ebrahim Saeed scored three while Ebrahim Al Bloushi, Gareeb Mohammad and Abdullah Al Mazem each scored two.

Team manager Omran Hussain said a lack of experience denied the UAE players from reaching the quarterfinals.

"This was clear in the two matches which we lost in group A against Japan and Korea.

"As I said our players lack experience especially the experience of keeping their lead in the last minutes of the match. We lost both matches in the last minutes," said Hussain.

Short period

He added that the preparation for the Asian championships had been short.

"We trained for 29 days, but the coach did a verygood job with the players in this short period and formed a strong team that displayed excellent performances despite losing in group A and not reaching the quarterfinals," he said.