Bahrain set sights on West Asian futsal gold

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s national futsal team are set to kick off their medal bids tomorrow in the fourth West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Men’s Futsal Championship, taking place in Kuwait.

The Bahrainis are in Group B for the competition’s preliminary round and they will take on Lebanon in their opening fixture.

It is scheduled for a 4 pm kick-off, Bahrain time, tomorrow and it will be played at Al Naser Club’s arena in Kuwait City.

The nationals travelled to the Kuwaiti capital last night after spending a few days back in the Kingdom, having recently returned from the GCC Games where they won the men’s futsal bronze medals.

Oman and the UAE are the other two teams in the Kingdom’s division.

They are scheduled to face off in the late match starting at 7.30 pm.

The championship is scheduled to begin today with two matches in Group A, which features Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and hosts Kuwait.

The Saudis and Palestinians go head-to-head in their opening fixture, while Iraq and Kuwait lock horns in the day’s other game.

Following their match tomorrow against their Lebanese counterparts, Bahrain plays Oman on Tuesday and then takes on the UAE in their final group assignment on Thursday, which will also be the last day of this current stage.

Following a single round-robin, the top two nations from each of the two groups move on to the semi-finals.

Coached by Brazilian Lino Gomes, the men’s team have made a few changes to their line-up from the one that competed at the GCC Games.

The squad is now comprised of 14 players, namely Ahmed Abdulnabi, Hamed Abdulla, Ammar Ali, Mohamed Abdulla, Jassam Anan, Saleh Sanjar, Hasan Marzooq, Mohamed Alsandi, Ahmed Antar, Falah Abbas, Salman Muhammad, Ali Aloraibi, Mohamed Sayed Abbas and Sayed Fadhel Mahfoodh.

The tournament’s official technical meeting was held yesterday by organisers, with the presence of representatives from the participating national teams.

Bahrain’s participation in the WAFF championship will help them gear up for their campaign later this summer in the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2022, which will take place this September, also in Kuwait.

The Bahrainis are in Group B for that event alongside Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

There are four groups in all for the competition’s preliminary round.

Group A features Kuwait, Iraq, Thailand and Oman; Group C comprises Iran, Lebanon, Chinese Taipei and Indonesia; and Group D includes Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Women’s futsal Meanwhile, Bahrain’s women’s futsal team are also set to compete in their WAFF Women’s Futsal Championship, scheduled to be held in Jahez, Saudi Arabia, from June 16 to 24.

The Bahraini women have been drawn along with Palestine, Iraq and the UAE for their competition.

The other group comprises Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain’s first game will be on opening day against Iraq, after which they play Palestine two days later.

Their final group fixture will then be against the UAE on June 20.

The top two from each division advance to the final four, which are scheduled for June 22.

The bronze and gold medal games will then take place on the competition’s last day