HANDBALL: Australia have suffered their biggest defeat of the Rio 2016 Asian Qualification tournament after going down 33-11 to Bahrain.
Having been knocked out of the competition after their defeat to South Korea earlier in the week, the Aussies fell behind 21-3 at the half.
The side put in a better performance after the break but could not mount an unlikely comeback to eventually lose by 22.
In what was always going to be a difficult task, the Australian team finished the tournament with four losses in their four matches.
Australia vs South Korea
Australia have been knocked out of contention for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after losing to South Korea in Doha, Qatar.
Needing to win the tournament to book their spot in Rio, the Aussies lost their third consecutive match as they went down 35-16 to the classy Korean side.
The result mean the Autralians are now unable to qualify for the knock out phase as they cannot finish in the top two of their group.
One of the strongest team's in the competition, South Korea came out firing and opened a 17-7 lead at the half.
They continued to exert their dominance after the break as they ran out 19 goal winners.
Australia will next face the undefeated side from Bahrain at 3am (AEDT) Sunday morning.
Australia vs Iraq
Coming off a strong performance against China, Australia have gone down 32-19 to Iraq in their Rio Olympic Qualifiers in Doha, Qatar.
The Iraqi side took control in the first half as they pushed to a 17-7 lead at the half.
Despite scoring 12 goals in the second half the side was not able to make an imprint into Iraq's lead as they eventually went down by 13 goals.
Their next clash will be aginst a South Korean side that defeated Iraq 26-20 in their opening match of the tournament.
Australia vs China
The Australian men's handball team have gone down 29-24 to the Chinese in the opening match of the Rio 2016 Asian Qualification Tournament.
China took a dominant 17-8 lead into halftime but the resilient Australian team regrouped to outscore the Chinese 16-8 after the break.
With players coming from various parts of Australia and around the world the team will be looking to build on their strong second half performance throughout the rest of the tournament.
Australia's next match is against Iraq who suffered a 26-20 defeat to South Korea in their tournament opener.
The Aussies need to finish in the top two of their five team group to progress to the semi-finals.
The winner of the tournament books their ticket to Rio with the second and third placed teams progressing through to next year's World Qualification Tournament.
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au
