Bahrain youth bow to Egypt in handball friendly

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s under-19 national handball team lost the first of three international friendly matches against their counterparts from Egypt.

The Bahrainis went down fighting 28-30 in a competitive affair, played at the Bahrain Handball Association Arena in Um Al Hassam.

The game was part of both teams’ preparations for the upcoming 10th IHF Men’s Youth Handball World Championship, which will be held August 2 to 13 in Croatia.

Bahrain and Egypt are among 32 national teams taking part, with the Egyptians being the tournament’s defending champions. Both sides will meet for another two tune-up games today and tomorrow at the same venue.

The Bahrainis, coached by Icelandic tactician Maksim Akbachev, are in Group D for the worlds’ preliminary round alongside Spain, South Korea and Brazil; while Egypt are in Group C with Iceland, Japan and the Czech Republic.

The event will be the first edition of the youth handball worlds to feature a 32-team field. There are eight groups of four teams each for the preliminaries.

It will be the fifth time Bahrain are competing in the event. They also played in the 2007, 2011, 2017 and 2019 editions, with their best finish being eighth in 2007, when the competition took place in the Kingdom.