Bahrain make winning start to West Asian junior volleyball

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain made a rousing start yesterday to this year’s West Asian Junior Volleyball Championship after defeating Iraq 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-21) in their tournament-opener in Qatif, Saudi Arabia.

The game was both sides’ opening fixture in Group A, which also includes Lebanon, the UAE and Jordan. The Bahrainis narrowly lost the first set but were able to bounce back in the second and then narrowly take a seesaw third.

They then closed things out in the fourth set and avoided going into a tie-breaker. The junior nationals are coached by Tunisian tactician Saber Abdulwahed and their squad in Qatif includes Hussain Ali, Redha Matrook, Ali Al Bosta, Hassan Al Warqa, Sayed Hashem Issa, Ali Hussain, Ali Habib, Sadeq Marhoon, Sayed Ahmed Murtadha, Hussain Abdulredha, Hassan Aliwi and Abbas Ihsan.

The Bahrainis return to the court today for their second game against Lebanon. The 10-nation competition also features hosts Saudi, Qatar, Syria, Kuwait and Palestine in Group B. The Bahrainis are using the West Asian tournament to prepare for the 21st Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship, which will be held in the Kingdom next month.

It will be the third time Bahrain is hosting the prestigious Asian Volleyball Confederation event. The Kingdom previously also staged the tournament in 2014 and 2018. In the last edition in 2018, the Bahrainis almost made it to the quarter-finals, but suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss to Australia in the Round of 16.