Bahrain handball team prepare for Iraq, South Korea friendlies

Bahrain have lined up four friendly matches early next month as part of their final preparations for the 2020 Asian Men’s Handball Championship in Kuwait, scheduled to take place from January 16 to 27.

The Kingdom’s senior men’s national team will be taking on their counterparts from Iraq on January 5 and 7, and then will also face off with South Korea on January 11 and 13. All four tuneup games will take place at the Bahrain Handball Association arena in Um Al Hassam.

Thirteen teams are taking part in the continental competition at Kuwait City. They have been divided into four groups for the preliminary round. Bahrain have been drawn in Group A along with Iran and New Zealand. The Bahrainis, who earlier this year made history by qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, play their first game against the Kiwis on the tournament’s first day before playing their Iranian rivals on January 18.

The top two teams from each group at the end of a single round-robin move on to the next phase. Group B features Qatar, Japan and China; Group C includes South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia; and Group D consists of the UAE, Hong Kong, Iraq and hosts Kuwait. The ensuing main round will feature eight teams in all, to be divided into another two groups and another single round-robin. The top two then march on to the semi-finals, scheduled for January 25.

The final match will then be held on January 27 along with the bronze medal game. The Asian championship also acts as the continental qualifying tournament for the 2021 World Men’s Handball Championship. Each of the competition’s four semi-finalists will book their tickets to the worlds, set to take place in Egypt in January of 2021.

National team head coach Aron Kristjánsson from Iceland has announced 25 players that will be a part of the team in Kuwait. The line-up includes Hussein Al Sayyad (Al Wehda, Saudi Arabia), Ali Mirza (Sharjah, UAE), Mohammed Habib Madan (Ahli Shabab Dubai, UAE), Jassim Al-Salatna (Al Khaleej, Saudi), Ali Eid (Al-Nasr, UAE); Mohammed Abdul Hussein, Hassan Shehab, Mahdi Saad, Mohammed Mirza, Bilal Basham, and Mohammed Habib (Al-Najma Club); Sadiq Ali, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Mohammed Abdul Redha, Hassan Madan and Mahmoud Hussein (Al Ahli); Ahmed Al Maqabai, Isa Khalaf, Qassim Al Shuweikh and Qassim Qamber (Barbar Club); Ahmed Jalal and Abdulla Zeimour (Al Shabab); Ahmed Hussein and Hassan Mirza (Al-Tadhamun); and Hussein Mahfoudh (Tubli).

The Bahrainis have been training locally under Kristjánsson and are set to step up their practices ahead of the friendlies.