Muscat: Oman's hopes to qualify for the semifinals in the second round of the 11th World Beach Handball Championship were dashed after the team suffered two consecutive defeats on Friday. In the first match, Oman lost 2-0 against Tunisia and then suffered a second defeat to Spain on penalties at the Championship which is being held in the Chinese city of Pingtan.
Oman entered its first match against Tunisia with high spirits and determination to win. At the start of the match, the team managed to open the scoring and take the lead in the first minute. The opponent did not take long to respond, as they came back and scored the equalizer and then took the lead to make it 4-2. Through several attempts and coordinated attacks, Oman managed to get a penalty kick that they successfully executed to equalize the score. But Tunisia came back again to widen the gap to make it 8-4 in their favor. Then, they continued pressing hard and managed to make it at 16-14.
The second half saw strong competition between the players of both teams, as Tunisians opened the scoring while Omani players managed to quickly return with an equalising goal. In the seventh minute, the Tunisian players managed to overcome the Oman team's defense and scored two consecutive goals. The Omani players tried to get back into the match and they managed to score a goal, but this was not enough to get back into the match completely. The half ended with the Tunisian team winning 14-12.
In the second match, Spain started with an early scoring goal. However, the Omani team was not slow to respond, narrowing the gap to make it 6-2 in favor of Spain. The Omani players made several mistakes that cost them several goals, which led to Spain taking a 20-12 lead in the middle of the first half. Despite the Omani team's improved performance at the end of the first half and their ability to score more goals to narrow the gap, Spain finished the half in their favor with a score of 32-20. The Omani national team entered the second half with better defensive and offensive organization, as they managed to crack the code of the Spanish team's defense and take the lead 6-4 in their favor.
The excitement continued in the second half amidst a noticeable superiority of Oman until the end of the half, which ended in their favor with a score of 21-20, leading to the extension of the match to a penalty shootout. In the penalty shootout, the Spanish team managed to snatch the match points with skill and accuracy by a score of 6-8, to achieve victory in an exciting match that witnessed fierce competition and great performance from both teams.
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