India sweep Bahrain in straight sets in AVC clash

TDT | Manama

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Bahrain’s men’s national volleyball team suffered a 3–0 defeat to hosts India in their AVC Men’s Championship Pool A encounter yesterday at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad.

India won 25–21, 25–16, 25–22 in a match played in front of around 2,500 spectators and lasting 1 hour and 37 minutes. The hosts extended their perfect run to four straight victories, maintaining top spot in Pool A on 12 points, while Bahrain remain on six points from two wins and one defeat.

India’s top scorers were Chirag Yadav with 15 points, Jerome Vinith with 10, John Joseph with 8, and Nihal Chatham Kulangara with 5, as the hosts distributed their attacking output effectively across multiple options at the net to maintain consistent pressure throughout the match.

For Bahrain, Mahmood Abdulhussain led the scoring once again with 15 points, while Mahmood Abdulwahed contributed 9. Ali Ebrahim and Hasan Alwarqaa added 6 points each.

Bahrain, coached by Ivan Joksimovic, had entered the match aiming to build on two consecutive wins but were ultimately unable to overcome India’s depth in attack and their home-court advantage.

The national team will now turn its attention to tomorrow’s fixture against Kazakhstan, scheduled for 3:30pm Bahrain time, before completing their Pool A schedule on Friday evening against Australia at 6:30pm.

At the end of the single round-robin stage, the top two teams from each pool will advance to the semi-finals, scheduled for Saturday next week, with the gold and bronze medal matches to follow the next day. Classification matches will also take place to determine final standings from fifth to tenth place.

Bahrain’s historic title triumph in last year’s AVC Men’s Cup marked the kingdom’s first-ever championship in any Asian Volleyball Confederation competition. That victory also secured their qualification for the AVC Volleyball Men’s Continental Championship 2026, set to be held in Fukuoka, Japan, from September 4 to 13.