Bahrain to take on Syria in West Asian volleyball quarter-finals

Agencies | Manama                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain will be locking horns with Syria today in the quarter-finals of the first West Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship, taking place at Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Sports Hall in Qatif, Saudi Arabia.

The nationals head into the tournament’s last eight after finishing as Group A winners in the preliminary round. The Syrians were ranked fourth in Group B to end the opening phase, earning them their meeting with the Bahrainis.

The game is scheduled for a 12.30pm start, Bahrain time. The other quarter-final clashes feature Iraq against Kuwait at 2.30pm today, Saudi Arabia against the UAE at 4.30pm and Lebanon against Palestine at 6.30pm.

Should Bahrain advance to the semi-finals, those matches will take place tomorrow along with the other classification games for fifth to eighth-places. All participating teams will then have one-day rest on Saturday, while the last classification contests, as well as the bronze medal game and the gold medal showdown, will take place on Sunday.

Bahrain’s team at the West Asian championship includes talented young stars 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 junior Bahrainis are coached by Tunisian tactician Saber Abdulwahed. Bahrain are using this West Asian tournament to prepare for the 21st Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship, which will be held in the Kingdom next month.