HANDBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s handball national team star Ali Mirza announced his retirement yesterday from international play.
In a social media post, Mirza said that his 18-year career representing the kingdom in world handball has come to an end.
Among his many contributions to the national team, Mirza represented the kingdom seven times in the world championships, and was also part of the team that secured Bahrain’s historic participation in the men’s handball tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The 36-year-old also won two silver medals and one bronze for Bahrain at the Asian Games.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s national team are continuing their preparations for the 2025 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship, which is scheduled to take place from January 14 to February 2, co-hosted by Croatia, Denmark, and Norway.
It will bring together 32 of the top senior men’s handball national teams from five confederations.
The Bahrainis are scheduled to fly to Doha in the coming days for a friendly match against Qatar on Thursday. They will then return to Bahrain before departing for the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where they will play another two tune-ups against Denmark on January 9 and 10 as part of their final lead-up to the worlds.
Bahrain head coach Aron Kristjansson has called up 25 players for their preparations for the world championships. They include skipper Hussain Al Sayyad, Mohammed Habib Nasser, Mohammed Mirza, Mohammed Abdulhussain, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Abdulla Al Zaimour, Mujtaba Al Zaimour, Ahmed Jalal, Ali Eid, Qassim Qambar, Mohammed Hameed, Hussain Mahfouth, Jassim Khamis, Ahmed Redha, Abdulla Abdulkarim, Hasan Madan, Ali Al Asheeri, Hesham Ahmed, Hussain Abdulla, Ali Reza, Jaffar Abdulshaheed, Ahmed Al Fardan, Ali Mahmood, and Sayed Mahmood Al Falahi.
Bahrain are in Group H for the worlds along with Egypt, Argentina, and co-hosts Croatia. They kick off their tournament campaign on January 15 against the home team, and then take on Egypt on January 17. They complete the opening round against Argentina on January 19.
At the end of a single round-robin, the top three from the eight groups move on to the main round, while the bottom squads play for the President’s Cup.
Next year’s tournament marks the sixth time Bahrain are participating in global handball’s premier event.
&uuid=(email))