Bahrain getting set for U21 volleyball worlds

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain is getting all geared up to host one of the biggest international volleyball tournaments next month, featuring 16 of the top junior men’s national teams from around the world.

The FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship is scheduled to take place in the Kingdom from July 7 to 16.

The junior nationals have qualified for the event as hosts and are stepping up their preparations this week, having departed yesterday for Slovenia to conduct an overseas training camp.

The travelling delegation is headed by Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) board member and financial secretary Habib Mohammed, and includes national team director Abdulla Al Mahroos and head coach Saber Abdulwahed and his staff.

Sixteen players are on the team for the camp, which will continue until June 24.

They are Hussain Ehsan, Sayed Hashem, Sayed Ahmed Murtadha, Ali Al Bostas, Sadeq Marhoon, Hassan Alaiwi, Abbas Ehsan, Hussain Issa Hassan, Hussein Ramadan, Ali Habib, Hassan Al Warqa, Ali Abdulwahab, Mohammed Hassan Ali, Mahdi Hussain Hassan, Ali Hussain Isa and Hussain Ismail.

During the camp, the nationals are expected to play a number of friendly games against Slovenian and international teams.

This year’s event will be the fourth time the prestigious junior competition is being held in Bahrain.

It also took place here in 2019, 1997 and 1987. The Bahrainis are in Pool A along with Iran, Thailand and Tunisia. Pool B features defending champions Italy, Brazil, Egypt and Mexico.

Pool C consists of Poland, Bulgaria, Canada and India; while Pool D comprises Argentina, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the US.

The top two teams from each pool will advance to round-robin Pools E and F of the second phase, while the rest will move to Pools G and H to continue the battles for classification from eighth to 16th.

The winners and runners-up of Pools E and F will progress to the semi-finals and eventually determine the medallists.

Schedule

Meanwhile, the tournament’s match schedule has been released by the BVA, who are organising the tournament in cooperation with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).

Eight games a day are to be held between two playing courts at the Isa Sports City in Riffa.

The preliminary round will take place from July 7 to 9, after which a rest day will be held ahead of the next stage, which will also be played over three days from June 11 to 13.

After another rest day, the semi-finals and classification play-offs are scheduled for July 15, followed by the gold and bronze medal matches, along with the final classification contests, on the final day on July 16.

On each day, the first fixtures are scheduled for 11am starts, with the last games set to begin no earlier than 8pm.