BAHRAIN will be one of 14 teams vying for the title in the 2018 Asian Men’s Handball Championship, which begins tomorrow.
The competition will take place in Suwon, South Korea as the 18th edition of the prestigious event.
Teams will not only be battling for the coveted continental crown. The tournament also acts as the Asian qualifier for the 2019 World Men’s Handball Championship. The top four nations at the end of the competition go through to next year’s finals, which will be held in Denmark and Germany.
Bahrain have been drawn in Group ‘B’ along with Gulf rivals Oman and debutants Australia.
The Australians and their New Zealand counterparts are in their maiden Asian championship after being invited by the Asian Handball Federation to participate.
The Kiwis are in Group ‘D’ alongside defending champions Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and China.
Group ‘A’ comprises Japan, Iran and Uzbekistan while Group ‘C’ features the UAE, India, Bangladesh and the host Koreans.
Bahrain open their campaign against the Aussies tomorrow. After Oman and Australia face off on Friday, the Bahrainis take on their Omani rivals on Saturday in their last group game.
At the end of the preliminary round, the top two teams from each of the four groups move on to the main round. It will consist of another two groups of four nations each. Following another single round-robin, that will determine the four semi-finalists. The final four will be held on January 26 and then the bronze and gold medal games both on January 28.
There will also be classification matches to determine the final rankings amongst the 14 squads.
Bahrain will be looking to secure their third appearance in the world championship, having earlier qualified to compete in 2011 and 2017. The Bahrainis will also be looking to secure their first Asian title, having finished as silver-medallists the last two editions in 2014 and 2016.
The Bahrainis have a formidable squad, guided by Rio 2016 gold medal winning coach of Denmark Gudmundur Gudmundsson. On the court, they will be led by the likes of Hussain Al Sayyad, Ali Mirza, Mohammed Mirza, Mahdi Saad, Mohammed Habib, Mahmood Abdulqader, Ali Eid and goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain, to name a few.
In preparation for the Asian championship, the nationals competed in a friendly tournament in Romania where they won third place. They also played an international tune-up against host team Japan earlier this week, which they won 21-20. That was their last stop before heading to Suwon for the main event.
The Asian championship started in 1997, with Japan beating Korea 24-14 in the final, held in Kuwait City.
Since then, Korea have gone on to become record winners (nine titles), but the emergence of Qatar in the region has seen them win the past two editions (2014, 2016).
This year marks the second time Korea will be hosting the competition, after the 1983 edition was also held in Seoul and won by the hosts.