Bahrain’s national volleyball team yesterday had a great start to their title defence in the Second GCC Games, being held in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain came from behind to edge highly-favoured Qatar 3-2 in an over two-hour marathon match on the second day of the volleyball competition. Set scores were 18-25, 23-25, 26-24, 30-28, 28-26.
Having won the competition’s gold medal in the first edition of the games held on home soil in 2011, the Bahrainis headed into this game with confidence.
However, it was the Qataris who started the game remarkably with some outstanding teamwork and exceptional individual skills by Mubarak Dahi, Juma Faraj, John Chigbo, Nader Abdubaker, Renan, libero Sulaiman Saeed and playmaker Daniel, which saw them win the first two sets.
But Qatar, under coach Juan Manuel Cichello, suffered a major drop in performance thereafter, giving Bahrain the opportunity to stage a solid comeback.
Hasan Dahi, who made a long-waited return to Bahrain’s squad after injury, played a crucial part in his team’s fightback, scoring most of the points.
Jassim Al Nabhan, Ali Al Sairafi, Mohammed Saleh, Ali Ebrahim, Mahmood Abdulwahed, playmakers Hussain Al Haiki and Mahmood Al Afya and libero Ayman Haroona showed harmony and also contributed to this exciting win.
The victory saw Bahrain claim second place in this single round robin championship with two points, one behind hosts Saudi Arabia who top the table thanks to their easy 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20) win over the UAE.
Qatar, who defeated Oman 3-2 (25-22, 10-25, 26-28, 23-25, 15-12), and Oman, who edged the UAE 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12) earlier in the tournament, are also on two points each but from two matches.
Bahrain will now look for their second win tomorrow when they take on the UAE at 1.30pm.
Bahrain play Saudi Arabia the following day at 5.30pm, while their concluding game is against Oman on Sunday at 3.15pm.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s handball team will reach Dammam today ahead of their first match against Qatar on Friday. The UAE and Kuwait will also face off on the same day while Oman challenge Saudi Arabia on the first day of action.
The handball championship is a single round robin event and the team finishing with the highest points will be crowned champions.
Elsewhere, Bahrain will play their second game in the goalball championship today when they take on the UAE at noon. The Bahrainis kick-started their campaign with a heavy 3-11 defeat to recently-crowned GCC champions Saudi Arabia on Monday.