Bahrainis get mixed results in handball friendlies

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain’s under-21 national handball team had mixed results in their three friendly matches so far in Athens, ahead of their participation in the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, which is being hosted by Germany and Greece from Tuesday next week.

The Bahrainis defeated their counterparts from Morocco 32- 30 in their most recent tune-up, but in their previous two games against their Greek rivals, drew their first encounter 28-all before losing their follow-up affair 25-26.

The nationals are hoping to play one more friendly against a European team taking part in the worlds.

The Bahrainis, coached by Essam Abdulla, have been conducting their final preparations for the worlds in Greece over the past week.

They are in Athens with an 18-player squad, including Abdulla Abdulkarim, Komail Fouad, Sadiq Jaafar, Hussain Ali, Mahmood Al Khunaizi, Mustafa Al Hayki, Ahmed Al Zain, Hassan Khalil, Yasser Qambar, Ali Madan, Ali Redha, Ali Al Asheeri, Hesham Ahmed, Mohammed Hameed, Ali Jameel, Ali Mahmood, Ahmed Redha and Jassim Khamis.

The junior nationals are in Group F for the worlds, alongside Sweden, Slovenia and Greenland.

There are 32 teams in all competing, divided into eight pools of four for the preliminary round.

Group A features France, Poland, Croatia and the US. Group B comprises Algeria, Germany, Tunisia and Libya.

Group C consists of Portugal, Brazil, Kuwait and Costa Rica; while Group D includes Spain, Faroe Islands, Japan and Angola.

Group E features Hungary, Denmark, Argentina and Norway; while Group G comprises Serbia, Morocco, Chile and Iceland.

The field is completed by Egypt, Greece, Cuba and Saudi Arabia in Group H.

At the end of a single round-robin in the preliminary stage, the top two teams from each group move on to the tournament’s main round.

This year’s event will be only the third time Bahrain’s juniors are competing.

They previously also took part in the 1995 and 2019 editions, both times finishing 17th overall.