VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN are ready to give their best and defend home court in the AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup 2025, which gets underway today in the kingdom.
This was stressed by the kingdom’s senior men’s volleyball national team head coach Arnaud Josserand, who is confident in his players’ abilities despite the limited time they’ve had together ahead of the competition.
Josserand had only a few weeks with the nationals in their intensive training programme ahead of this 11-nation Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) tournament. The former France international and ex-Olympian took over in April for now-departed Argentinian Jorge Elgueta, and it will be his first official competition in charge.
“We had the best preparations possible considering all the details that come inside the preparations,” Josserand said ahead of their opening fixture tonight against Thailand, set to be played at Isa bin Rashid Arena, located at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
“A lot of players finished the season really late, and then some guys played in the Asian Champions League. We had to mix all this and start early because I am a new coach, and I want to know the players, even if I have been watching them over many games – seeing and training players is not always the same thing.
“We had a camp for 12 days in Egypt, where we had really good conditions. They welcomed us really well and we played two games.
“I don’t know the levels of the other teams, but our team is well-prepared and ready for the competition.”
Josserand has a near-full strength 14-player squad in the tournament. The roster includes Mohammed Yaqoob, Naser Anan, Ali Ebrahim, Mahmood Alafyah, Ayman Harwana, Abbas Al Khabbaz, Hussain Mansoor, Sayed Hashem Isa, Mahmoud Abdulwahed, Mohammed Jassim, Mohammed Anan, Hasan Al Warqaa, Hani Ali, and Abbas Sultan.
The Bahrainis are in Pool A for the competition’s opening round along with the Thais and Indonesians. Their game against Thailand is today’s third and final fixture, scheduled for a 7pm start. The nationals then face Indonesia on Thursday, also at 7pm.
“I have seen some videos from the last competition, and I think Thailand is similar – they have a good team with good quality, very technical,” Josserand said. “We need to be well-prepared. We have the possibility to beat this team, but we have to have the same level from our games in our camp.
“Indonesia, from what I’ve seen, their roster this year from last, they have changed the whole team. I don’t know this team at all, but Indonesia play Thailand before we face them so we will have this game to prepare and see their guys, and get the best game plan as possible with the small information we have.”
Pool B features only two teams, with defending champions Qatar and Australia, following the late withdrawal of Kazakhstan. Pool C is composed of last year’s silver-medallists Pakistan, Chinese Taipei, and the Philippines; while Pool D includes the 2024 bronze-medallists South Korea, Vietnam, and New Zealand.
The Pakistanis and Filipinos clash in today’s first game at 2pm, followed by the South Koreans taking on the Kiwis at 4.30pm.
Josserand is looking forward to an exciting atmosphere at Isa bin Rashid Arena, having seen the passion of local supporters during this past season’s national competitions.
“It was totally incredible,” he recalled. “We don’t see this in Europe and I appreciated it a lot.
“The fighting spirit of the teams – it seems in every point they put their lives on the court. I love it and I hope the mood of the gym and the spectators will be the same in this competition.”
This year’s AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup is being held in the kingdom for the second straight year. It has been organised by the Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) in cooperation with the AVC and Volleyball World.
The competition is taking place under the patronage of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Meanwhile, Josserand and other members of Bahrain’s national team staff participated yesterday in the preliminary inquiry meeting held by the tournament’s control committee. There, the uniforms that will be used by the national teams in each match were approved, along with other details ahead of today’s start of play.
Games tomorrow are also scheduled to begin from 2pm while they will start from 11.30am on Thursday, which will be the last day of the preliminaries.
Entrance for the entire tournament is free. Teams will first compete in round-robin pool play, with the top two from each pool advancing to the quarter-finals. The remaining sides will compete in classification matches for ninth to 12th place.
The winners of the competition will earn a berth in the 2026 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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