Home advantage fuels Bahrain’s youth volleyball title bid
Bahrain’s youth volleyball team begin their bid for Arab U17 men’s gold today as the second edition of the Arab U17 Men’s Volleyball Championship gets underway at the Isa bin Rashid Volleyball Arena.
The hosts are among six national teams competing in the single round-robin tournament, with defending champions Saudi Arabia joined by Kuwait, Jordan, Algeria and Egypt.
Bahrain will be looking to go one step further than in the inaugural edition in 2024, when they claimed the silver medal in Amman, Jordan. Saudi Arabia won the title on that occasion, while Libya completed the podium.
The championship is being organised by the Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) in coordination with the Arab Volleyball Association. Each team will face the other five nations, with the side finishing top of the standings crowned champions.
Bahrain head into the competition with valuable international experience behind them after competing at the AVC Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship in Haikou, China, last month. The nationals finished 12th among 16 participating teams at the continental tournament.
Head coach Yusuf Khalifa will lead a 15-player squad in Bahrain’s home title bid, assisted by Mohammed Salman. The roster includes outside hitters Sayed Hasan Alabbar, Ebrahim Alhamar, Abdulla Aljaboori, Mohamed Haram and captain Nasralla Haram.
The squad also features opposite spikers Karrar Yaqoob, Mohammed Kadhem and Hadi Hussain, middle blockers Ammar Ebrahim, Mustafa Ebrahim and Ali Abdulla, setters Ahmed Husain and Hussain Albalooshi, and liberos Hadi Ahmed and Abbas Mohamed.
The Bahrainis have already tested themselves at the championship venue, beating Jordan in straight sets in a friendly on Thursday night. The match provided useful preparation for both sides ahead of the tournament.
Bahrain open their campaign against Algeria tonight at 7pm. They will then face Jordan at the same time tomorrow before taking on Kuwait on Wednesday.
The hosts will meet defending champions Saudi Arabia in their penultimate match on Friday, August 14, before completing their campaign against Egypt on Sunday, August 16.
With home support behind them and the experience of a silver-medal finish in 2024, Bahrain will be aiming to turn their strong preparation into a title-winning campaign on home soil.
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