Bahrain set for Asian volleyball title bid

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national volleyball team begin their campaign tomorrow in the 22nd Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship.

The tournament gets underway officially today in Urmia, Iran, and the Bahrainis are one of a reduced field of 17 national teams taking part.

The Kingdom’s squad , coached by Ruben Adrian Wolochin from Argentina, features 14 of the Kingdom’s top spiking talents, many of whom were part of the squad that claimed the silver medals last month in the fourth AVC Men Challenger in Chinese Taipei—a tournament where they stunned international powerhouses such as Australia and South Korea en route to the gold medal game, where they lost to Thailand.

The national team roster includes top stars Mohammed Yaqoob, Ali Ebrahim, Ayman Haroona, Mahmood Al Afia, Ali Habib, Nasser Anan, Mahmood Abdulhussain, Mahmoud Abdulwahed, Abbas Al Khabbaz, Mohammed Jassim and Hani Ali.

They are joined by talented youngster Sayed Hashem Isa and national team mainstays Hussain Sultan and Mohammed Anan, both of whom are coming off recent injuries.

The Bahrainis completed their preparations yesterday with a friendly game against Pakistan. Bahrain are in Pool D for the preliminary round.

Their group has been trimmed to just two squads, along with Chinese Taipei, after the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) on Thursday that Mongolia have officially withdrawn.

The rest of the field features two-time champions and hosts Iran in Pool A with Hong Kong and Iraq; while Japan, Uzbekistan and Thailand are in Pool B. Pool C consists of China, Kazakhstan and Indonesia; while Qatar, India and Afghanistan are in Pool E. Pool F rounds out the teams with the Pakistanis, South Korea and Bangladesh.

Bahrain play their lone game in the prelimibaries tomorrow against Chinese Taipei.

Regardless of that result, both teams will make it to the round-of-12 playoff stage, where the top teams from each group will face the seco d teams of each pool by drawing lots.

Bahrain will be looking to continue from their fine performance in last month’s AVC Men Challenger.

By playing in the gold medal game of that tournament, the Bahrainis made national sporting history after qualifying for their first-ever championship-decider at the senior men’s level in any AVC tournament.

It was thus their maiden silver medal in a continental competition for senior men.

Bahrain have never won a medal in the Asian men’s championship. This year’s tournament marks their 11th appearance, with their best finish coming in 1987 when they were e i g h t h amongst 1 7 teams.