THE Men’s and Women’s Epee Junior Fencing World Cup Championship is set to kick off at 9am today at the Khalifa Sports City Hall in Isa Town.
It is being held under the patronage of Representative of His Majesty for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, chairman of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of Bahrain Olympic Committee Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and sponsored by Minji Construction and Investment Company and Bapco.
Iraq were the first team to arrive in Bahrain on Thursday. They practiced at the championship venue and played some friendlies against Bahrain national team members.
Competition
The Khalifa Sports City Hall has nine fencing courts. The men’s singles competition will be held today and women’s tomorrow.
The technical director at Bahrain Fencing Association Ahmed Al Derazi said this year’s event has attracted top ranked players like Jakub Jurka from Czech Republic, who is second in world rankings, as well as Elia Dagani from Switzerland, who is ranked sixth, and last year’s champion Gabriel Bonferroni of Switzerland who is ranked seventh.
Twenty-six teams will compete in this year’s championship and they are hosts Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Australia, Turkey, Switzerland, Lebanon, India, Jordan, Estonia, Iraq, Netherlands, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Peru and Armenia.
The Bahrain national men’s team members are Ali Al Ameeri, Saud Al Atawi, Hamad Al Atawi, Abdulla Al Belooshi, Ibrahim Hamada, Matar Hassoni, Ali Matar and Mohammed Qassim.
The women’s team members are Haneen Abdulaziz, Sumaiya Al Boainain, Dana Al Sadoon, Dhua Al Sadoon, Layla Fardeen, Maram Mohammed and Sabreen Rashid.