Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Manama: Bahrain ended their first AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifying campaign on a high note on Sunday when doubles from Deena Abdel Rahman and Reem Al Hashmi saw the Group C hosts defeat Kyrgyzstan 4-1.
With both sides having lost to group winners Vietnam and runners-up Hong Kong in their first two matches Bahrain and Kyrgyzstan were out of the qualification picture but were still keen to avoid finishing bottom of the table.
And the home side made the perfect start at the National Stadium in Manama as Deena Abdel Rahman put Bahrain one up after just three minutes before Reem Al Hashmi extended the advantage in the 20th minute with her second of the qualifiers following her goal in Friday’s 3-1 defeat to Hong Kong.
Kyrgyzstan reduced the deficit in the 31st minute when Svetlana Tynkova also scored her second qualifying goal having previously been on target against Hong Kong but it wasn’t long before Bahrain restored their two-goal cushion when midfielder Deena bagged her brace just two minutes later.
And just as they did in the first-half, Bahrain made a flying start to the second period when Al Hashmi scored what transpired to be the fourth and final goal just four minutes after the restart to give the Gulf Kingdom an encouraging victory.