Bahrain’s junior, youth national handball teams get tough draws

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s junior and youth national handball teams have been drawn in tough groups for their respective continental competitions, which are set to be hosted by the Kingdom the next couple of months.

The Bahraini under-20 team were yesterday drawn in Group B for the 17th Asian Junior Handball Championship, scheduled to be held from July 16 to 27. They will face the likes of Japan, India and Pakistan in the competition’s preliminary round.

Group A features South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait. Meanwhile, the under-18 national team were drawn in Group A for the ninth Asian Youth Handball Championship, set to take place from August 16 to 27.

The other nations in their division are Iran, India, South Korea and Uzbekistan, while Group B features Japan, Saudi, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq and Kuwait. Both draws were held yesterday in Kuwait, hosted by the Asian Handball Federation (AHF).

Bahrain Handball Association president Ali Issa was on hand to sign the contract for the Kingdom as hosts for both events. He penned the agreement with AHF treasurer Bader Al Dhiyab. The upcoming junior championship will also act as a qualification competition for the IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, with the top four teams directly qualifying for the global event, to be held next year and co-hosted by Germany and Greece.

The juniors’ event was supposed to be held in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bahrain were the bronze-medallists in the tournament’s previous edition. Meanwhile, Bahrain are the two-time defending champions in the Asian youth championship, which was last held in 2018.

The 2020 tournament was also cancelled due to COVID-19. The event will take place as a qualifying competition for next year’s 10th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship.