NETBALL – Bahrain is set to take part for the first time ever in the Asian Netball Championship for Women.
This year’s tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia from September 28 to October 8, Asia Netball has announced.
Bahrain are one of 16 nations participating in the event. The others are Singapore, Japan, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Thailand, Hong Kong-China, Iraq, Pakistan, Maldives, the Philippines, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, and hosts Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain and Saudi are the only two GCC representatives in the fray.
The kingdom’s national team will be competing for the first time after Netball Bahrain was awarded last year an association status under Asia Netball, the lead World Netball agency for the continental game.
It will be Saudi’s first time hosting the tournament, which is to be held for the 13th time.
The previous edition of the women’s championship took place in 2022 in Singapore, with 11 teams taking part. Sri Lanka were crowned champions after defeating the home side 63-53 in the final, while Malaysia came away with the bronze medals after beating Hong Kong 54-42 in the game for third place.
Sri Lanka have the most number of titles in the championship with six, and have appeared on the podium every time it has been held, finishing as silver-medallists four times and bronze-medallists twice. Singapore have won thrice, Malaysia twice and Hong Kong once.
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