HANDBALL – BAHRAIN have named their final 16-player squad who will compete in the 25th IHF Men’s U21 World Championship 2025.
The competition, run by the International Handball Federation (IHF), is set to be held in Poland from Wednesday to June 29, with the Bahrainis one of 32 national teams from five confederations hitting the court.
The kingdom’s nationals have been gearing up for the event under the supervision of renowned Bahraini tactician Ali Al Falahi and his staff. They have been training at the Bahrain Handball Federation Arena in Um Al Hassam.
The Bahrainis are set to be led by the likes of Ali Redha, Abbas Hussain, and Mohammed Ayyad, while the rest of the junior standouts are Ahmed Al Fardan, Ali Al Madani, Elyas Mohammed, Maitham Ahmed, Abdulla Sameer, Hussain Shawqi, Sayed Mohammed Ali, Sayed Mahmood Ali, Mahmood Jaleel, Salman Al Shuwaikh, Mohammed Maitham, Sayed Hussain Fadhel, and Mohammed Shamloh.
Bahrain are in a tough Group H for the tournament’s preliminary round alongside European giants Spain, African powerhouses Egypt, and fellow-Asian standouts Saudi Arabia.
Group A features Norway, Slovenia, Uruguay, and hosts Poland; Group B includes Austria, Hungary, Argentina, and Brazil; Group C is composed of Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and the US; Group D comprises Portugal, Croatia, Algeria, and Canada; Group E features Denmark, France, Morocco, and Mexico; Group F includes Iceland, North Macedonia, Romania, and Faroe Islands; and Group G is composed of Tunisia, Serbia, Switzerland, and defending champions Germany.
The Bahrainis are scheduled to begin their campaign on opening day against Spain before taking on Egypt the following day. Their last game of the first stage will then be against Saudi on June 21.
The top two teams from each of the eight groups will move on to the main round, where they will be divided into another four groups of four sides apiece. That will set the stage for the ensuing quarter-finals, which kick off the knockout rounds to eventually classify the teams from first to 16th, respectively.
The bottom two sides from the four preliminary round groups will play in the President’s Cup bracket, which will determine the teams’ rankings from 17th to 32nd overall at the end of play.
Bahrain qualified for this year’s world IHF Men’s U21 World Championship after placing third in the 18th Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship last year in Amman, Jordan. The Bahrainis joined champions Japan and silver-medallists South Korea on the tournament podium. Saudi also qualified for the worlds as fourth-placers in Asia.
This year’s event marks the fourth time Bahrain will be playing in junior handball’s premier global competition. The nationals first qualified for its 1995 edition in Argentina, and by playing in 2025, have appeared in the last three tournaments, including in 2019 in Spain and in 2023 in Germany/Greece.
Bahrain’s best finish in the under-21 worlds was in the previous edition, where they were ranked 13th. It was the first time the tournament featured 32 participating teams.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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