U19 spikers begin West Asian volleyball title bid

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s youth national volleyball team lock horns with their counterparts from Kuwait today in their opening preliminary round game of the first West Asia Men’s U19 Volleyball Championship 2023.

The contest is scheduled for a 2pm start, and it will be the first fixture of the regional competition, which is being held until 25 August in Jeddah, with the participation of eight national teams.

The Bahrainis and Kuwaitis are in Group A along with Syria and the UAE; while Group B comprises Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Following Bahrain’s game today, they will take on their Emirati counterparts tomorrow at 8pm.

The nationals then play Syria in their concluding group stage game on Saturday, also at 8pm. The Bahrainis are coached by Tunisian Saber Abdulwahed.

They have travelled to Jeddah with a 12-player squad.

The roster includes Mohammed Redha, Mahdi Hussain, Hussain Ali Radhi, Hussain Issa, Hassan Al Warqa, Yasser Haji, Mohammed Hassan Nasser, Hussain Ismail, Ali Hussain Issa, Abdulla Al Haiki, Abbas Ehsan, and Mohammed Al Khabbaz.

As part of the lead up to the start of play, officials from Bahrain’s national team delegation took part yesterday in the official technical meeting. There, they presented the team’s uniforms which they will be wearing in the competition.

Last year, Bahrain took part in the inaugural West Asian U20 Volleyball Championship in Dammam and finished as the silver-medallists behind gold medal winners Saudi.

Iraq came away with the bronze medals. The nationals settled for the runner-up spot after losing in the final in three sets to the Saudis.