MANAMA, Bahrain: Saudi Arabia beat China 34-20 on Thursday to take second place in the Group B preliminary round of the 17th Asian Men’s Championship.
Bahrain leads the group with four wins after defeating Iran 27-16, and UAE is third by virtue of a 27-23 victory over Libya. China and Libya have remained winless after four games each.
Saudi Arabia has 3 wins and a draw, having tied with UAE on Sunday. The Saudi team beat Iran during the opening day and went on to vanquish Libya on Tuesday. UAE suffered its only loss in the hands of Bahrain on Tuesday.
In Group A, Qatar leads after staying unbeaten in three games since the event opened on January 15.
South Korea and Japan are tied at 1 win and 1 loss each, Oman has 1 win and 1 loss, while Syria lost all two games.
Scheduled to clash Friday are Oman and Japan and Korea and Syria.
The main round is scheduled on January 25 and the finals on January 28, with the champion to automatically qualify for the 2017 Men’s World Handball Championship in France.
KSA defeats China, stays unbeaten in 17th Asian handball championship
KSA defeats China, stays unbeaten in 17th Asian handball championship
Guardiola hails Man City’s ‘massive’ win over Newcastle
- Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday as a “massive” moment in the Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal, who travel to Tottenham for the north London derby on Sunday.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat.
“Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s coming in best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign.
They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
“70 percent of the players have never been in that situation, and I don’t play. So we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
“Especially at home, with five home games left. Today was the best crowd of the year, it was unbelievable with our people, really proud to be manager of these incredible people and fans.
“Of course in terms of points it’s important, but we have to improve to have chance to compete until the end. Now we deserve three more days off. Then another battle in Leeds.”
Guardiola singled out O’Reilly for praise after the young England midfielder’s pair of clinical finishes showed he won’t be affected by the strain of chasing Arsenal.
“Nico give us in the middle that physicality that we need. He now plays in his position,” he said.
“He has always played that, he is so complete and so young. I am really pleased the academy produced these incredible players, Nico, Phil (Foden), Rico (Lewis).”
