Bahrain name fullstrength handball squad

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain have named a fullstrength, 16-player team that will be going for gold in the men’s handball competition at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The Kingdom’s senior men’s national handball squad was announced yesterday by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC).

The roster includes Bahrain’s top stars in the game who have multiple years’ experience and have competed at the highest levels, including at the Olympics and the world championships, as well as in previous editions of the Asiad.

The Bahrainis will be spearheaded by skipper Hussain Al Sayyad, goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain, Ali Eid, Mohammed Habib Nasser, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Ali Mirza and Mohammed Mirza.

The rest of the team includes Ahmed Fadhel, Qassim Qambar, Hassan Madan, Mohammed Hameed Rabia, Hasan Mirza, Mahdi Saad, Mohammed Ali Abdulredha, Hesham Issa and Hassam Al Samaheeji.

The nationals are being coached by Aron Kristjansson from Iceland.

Kristjansson guided Bahrain to the silver medals at the 2018 edition of the Asian Games held in Indonesia, and also steered the Bahrainis to their historic first-ever Olympic appearance at the Tokyo Games, to name a few of his achievements.

The nationals departed the Kingdom yesterday for Hangzhou.

The men’s handball tournament is scheduled to get underway on Sunday. The Bahrainis are in Group C for the preliminary round, which features 13 nations divided into four groups.

Bahrain are in the same pool as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Group A features China, Kuwait and Thailand; Group B comprises Qatar, South Korea and Hong Kong; and Group D includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mongolia and Japan.

Bahrain play the Kazakhs in their maiden assignment on opening day and then battle with Uzbekistan three days later on 27 September

. Following the group phase, the top two teams from each pool move on to the main round, where the eight squads will once again be divided into two pools for another single round-robin from 29 September to 1 October.

That will determine the four semi-finalists, who will clash on 3 October; which will in turn set up the bronze and gold medal games on 5 October.

The nationals claimed the silver medals in 2018 after losing to their counterparts from Qatar 27-32 in extra-time in the final.

It was the second medal for Bahrain handball at the Asian Games, having claimed bronze in 2014.