Bahrain teams’ Asian Games groups set

TDT | Manama                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Three of Bahrain’s teams learned of their groups yesterday in their respective sports at the upcoming 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The official draw ceremonies for handball, volleyball and football took place at the host city, with officials from the Asian Handball Federation, Asian Volleyball Confederation and Asian Football Confederation on hand along with representatives from the participating delegations.

Handball, volleyball and football are three of the 19 sports Bahrain will be taking part in at the upcoming Asiad. The others are athletics, boxing, judo, weightlifting, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, rowing, shooting, cycling, table tennis, taekwondo, sailing, basketball, E-sports, cricket and equestrian.

The multi-sport Asian Games are scheduled for September 23 to October 8, featuring the continent’s top sportsmen and women participating in 482 events across 40 sports.

In the men’s handball tournament, Bahrain have been drawn in Group C along with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. There are four groups in all in this phase, each with three teams, except for Group D which has four.

Going for gold

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team are hoping to go one better in Hangzhou than the silver medals they won at the previous edition of the Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018.

Then, they lost in the final to Qatar 27-32 in extra-time. In the men’s volleyball tournament, the Kingdom’s national team will be taking on their counterparts from Iran and Nepal in Group B of the first round.

There are six groups in this stage, with five featuring three nations and one comprising four. Meanwhile, for the men’s football tournament, Bahrain are in a tough Group E alongside South Korea, Thailand and Kuwait.

The preliminary stage of this competition features six groups, five consisting of four teams each and one with three nations. This year’s Asiad will mark the 13th Asian Games Bahrain is taking part in.

Bahraini sportsmen and women had also participated in 1974 in Tehran, in 1978 in Bangkok, in 1982 in New Delhi, in 1986 in Seoul, in 1990 in Beijing, in 1994 in Hiroshima, in 1998 in Bangkok, in 2002 in Busan, in 2006 in Doha, in 2010 in Guangzhou, in 2014 in Incheon and in 2018 in Jakarta/ Palembang.

Bahrain is hopeful for a record-breaking campaign in China and for exceeding their medal tallies from the last two editions of the Asian Games. The nationals brought home 19 medals from the 2014 event in Incheon, South Korea, including nine gold, six silver and four bronze; before coming away with 24 medals in 2018 in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia, including 10 gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.