Bahrain wrap up on-court preparations for Asian volleyball

TDT | Manama                                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain wrapped up their oncourt preparations for the 21st Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship with a tightly contested 1-3 (23-25, 25-23, 14-25, 21-25) loss against their counterparts from Japan last night at the Bahrain Volleyball Association arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa.

The game was the final warmup for the national team ahead of the start of the continental competition on Monday. They are scheduled to have rest today and tomorrow following a week of intensive preparations, which included their friendly games.

Meanwhile, the participating national teams from across Asia are continuing to arrive in the Kingdom, with the last delegations expected to reach Bahrain by today. The Chinese national team touched down on Thursday night, while South Korea and Thailand arrived in separate fights yesterday. Seventeen nations from across the continent are taking part in the event. Bahrain are in Pool A for the preliminary round alongside Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.

Pool B features Iran, Japan and India; Pool C insides South Korea, Qatar and Kuwait; Pool D features Thailand and the UAE; Pool E includes Iraq, Australia and Bangladesh; and Pool F comprises China, Chinese-Taipei and Pakistan. Kazakhstan were also supposed to take part and were drawn in Pool D, but have withdrawn. The opening stage is scheduled to continue until Wednesday, after which a drawing of lots for Classification one to 12 (top two teams from each pool) will be conducted.