Saudi Arabia have missed a place in the final of the 2022 Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship after losing 31-26 to hosts Bahrain in their last-four clash in Manama.

Japan beat Kuwait 28-26 in the other semifinal and will now meet Bahrain in Sunday’s final. Saudi Arabia will take on Kuwait in the bronze-medal match earlier in the day.

The Saudi team trailed 13-9 at half-time, and were unable to make the deficit in the second half to eventually go down by five points.

It has already been a successful tournament for the young Saudi team as they secured a spot at the Junior World Championship for the fourth time in its history following their 32-28 win over South Korea in the final group match to reach the semifinals.

The eight-team continental tournament in the Bahraini capital doubled up as a qualifying campaign for the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, which will be held jointly by Germany and Greece from June 20 to July 2 next year.