Bahrain handball national team set for Egypt friendlies

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team will be playing back-to-back international friendly matches against African giants Egypt this weekend.

The games will be held at the Bahrain Handball Association arena in Um Al Hassam with 6.30pm starts.

The tune-ups are part of both teams’ preparations for the 28th International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s Handball World Championship, which will be held in January next year co-hosted by Poland and Sweden.

The Egyptians are scheduled to arrive in the Kingdom today. The nationals have been training under Icelandic head coach Aron Kristjansson with a 23-player squad, spearheaded by long-time captain Hussain Al Sayyad.

The other players include Mohammed Abdulhussain, Ali Mirza, Ali Eid, Ahmed Al Maqabi, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Mohammed Mirza, Komail Mahfoodh, Jassim Al Salatna, Qassem Qamber, Hassan Shehab, Mohammed Habib Nasser, Abdulla Ali, Hassan Mirza, Belal Basham, Mahmood Hussain, Ahmed Jalal, Hassan Madan, Ali Bassem, Abdulla Al Zaimour, Mohammed Hameed, Hisham Ahmed and Muntadher Ibrahim.

The nationals are in Group H for the tournament’s first round alongside Denmark, Belgium and Tunisia; while Egypt are in Group G with Croatia, the US and Morocco.

Thirty-two nations from all across the globe, representing five confederations, are taking part.

They have been divided into eight groups for the tournament’s preliminary stage.

The Bahrainis are one of five countries from Asia.

They qualified as the runners-up from the continental championship held earlier this year.

The upcoming worlds will mark Bahrain’s fifth appearance—and fourth straight—at the IHF’s premier event. The nationals had previously also played in the 2011, 2017, 2019 and 2021 editions.