U19 spikers sweep West Asian group games

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s youth national volleyball team completed a clean sweep of their Group A matches in the first West Asia Men’s U19 Volleyball Championship 2023, currently being held in Jeddah.

xThe nationals comfortably disposed of Syria 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-16) in their concluding fixture of the preliminary round, which ended late Saturday night.

The result earned the Bahrainis their third victory in as many games and secured them first place on their pool standings.

They finished with a maximum nine points, while the UAE follow on six, Kuwait are third on three points and Syria last on zero markers.

Bahrain had previously defeated Kuwait and the UAE, both in three sets, in their previous assignments.

They now head into the competition’s quarter-finals as one of the favourites to contend for a medal. There, they will take on Qatar, who finished as the fourth-ranked team in Group B with a winless record in their three matches.

The Bahrainis’ game is scheduled for an 8pm start, Bahrain time. Hosts Saudi Arabia topped their pool with seven points, followed by Jordan with six, Lebanon with five and the Qataris with zero.

The other match-ups in the round of eight will see the Emiratis face the Lebanese, the Kuwaitis take on the Jordanians, and the Saudis play the Syrians. Bahrain, coached in the tournament by Tunisian Saber Abdulwahed, are competing in the championship with a squad of Abbas Ehsan, Hassan Al Warqa, Hussain Issa, Mohammed Redha, Mahdi Hussain, Hussain Ali Radhi, Yasser Haji, Mohammed Hassan Nasser, Hussain Ismail, Ali Hussain Issa, Abdulla Al Haiki and Mohammed Al Khabbaz.