Handball national team kick off training for Asian championship

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team have kicked off their local training programme ahead of their participation in the 2022 Asian Men’s Handball Championship, taking place January 18 to 31 in Dammam.

The Bahrainis are one of 17 national teams taking part in the competition, which is being organised by the Asian Handball Federation and acts as a continental qualifying event for the world championship in 2023.

Bahrain has a 19-player squad training under head coach Aron Kristjansson at the Bahrain Handball Association (BHA) courts in Um Al Hassam.

The team includes Hussain Al Sayyad, Mohammed Abdulhussain, Mohammed Mirza, Ali Mirza, Hassan Samaheeji, Mohammed Habib, Mahdi Saad, Mohammed Abdulredha, Ali Abdulqader, Ali Eid, Hassan Madan, Mohammed Al Maqabi, Bilal Basham, Qassim Qamber, Ahmed Jalal, Mohammed Nasser, Hussain Mahfoodh, Hassan Mirza and Hisham Ahmed.

The Bahrainis are in Group D for the first round of the Asian championship alongside Japan, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Group A comprises South Korea, Kuwait, Jordan and Singapore; Group B features hosts Saudi, Iran, Australia and India; and Group C consists of defending champions Qatar, the UAE, Iraq and Oman.

In the previous Asian championship held in January of 2020, the Bahrainis finished fourth overall.

Bahrain has never won the title but was runners-up four times in the last six editions and bronze-medallists once.