Courtesy:
Gulf Daily NewsBahrain trounce Iraq in women's futsal openerWednesday, April 04, 2012BAHRAIN yesterday had a flying start at the Second Women's West Asian Futsal Championship, beating Iraq 8-2 in Group 'A' at Khalifa Sports City's Gym in Isa Town.
The Bahraini women's team took full advantage of having this regional competition on home soil and struck eight times in their opener against a less experienced Iraqis.
Rising futsal player Dina Abdulrahman stole the limelight of the tournament's opening encounter, scoring four goals and leading the home side to a well-earned victory in this three-team group, which also includes defending champions Iran.
The hosts, under national tactician Khalid Al Harban, dominated this 40-minute game right from the start and were ahead after just seven minutes through Shaikha Al Anood Al Khalifa.
Dina opened her account in the 12th minute, then made it 3-0 for Bahrain five minutes later.
AdvantageBahrain, who has 72 world ranking and is ranked second among Arab countries, continued to press forward and added two more goals by substitute Reem Al Hashmi, giving Bahrain a five-goal advantage.
Rojeen Sarhan reduced Iraq's deficit to four in the first minute of the 20-minute second-half, smashing past Bahrain's goalkeeper Manar Yaqoub.
But four minutes later, Dina restored Bahrain's five-goal lead with a neat finish before missing a penalty kick in the 13th minute.
Iraq then scored their second goal of the day through Sepal Rashid, then Manar Yaqoub and Dina added one goal apiece in the 32nd and 33rd minutes, respectively, to finalise the score.
Earlier yesterday, the tournament got underway with a special opening ceremony, during which the parade of all seven teams lined up at the centre of the gym.
Bahrain Football Association vice-president for technical affairs and Organising Committee chairman Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa then delivered a speech to announce the opening of the activities.
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
