Bahrain set to host Boys’ U19 championship

Manama : Bahrain is set to host the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship, starting on Friday until August 27 at Shaikh Isa Sports City in Riffa.

The teams are split into four Pools of five playing round-robin qualifiers before the straight knockout, with hosts Bahrain in Pool A and facing off with the United States, Puerto Rico, Egypt and Tunisia.

Defending champions Poland are placed in Pool B with Brazil, Cuba, Japan and France.

Pool C features Argentina, Russia, Chile, South Korea and Turkey and Pool D comprises, Iran, Italy, Mexico, China and the Czech Republic 

Some of the participating nations have already begun arriving with Egypt and Japan being among the first to touch down in Bahrain, followed most recently by Cuba and Iran. 

Officials from the FIVB have also started arriving and will be involved today in several activities off the court, from 10am.

These include a Joint FIVB Control Meeting and organising committee meeting and an Inspection of the hotel, competition venues, training venues, transportation, sports material and documents check.

Later, a clinic will be held for officials and referees on practical issues and theory.

The field of 20 countries have been divided into four pools of five teams with preliminaries played from opening night until August 22.

The top four teams following a round-robin in each pool move on to the next phase.

A rest day will be held on August 23, after which the Round of 16 will be held on August 24.

The quarter-finals follow on August 25, the Semi-finals on August 26, and then the gold and bronze medal matches on August 27.

There will also be classification games from August 24 to 26 for the bottom-ranked squads.

Eight matches are scheduled for each day and two will be held in separate halls with starting times at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm.

Spectators are welcome to witness the matches and tickets are available at 500 fils and can be purchased at the gate.

More information and the full schedule of matches, can be found online at u19.boys.2017.volleyball.fivb.com.