VOLLEYBALL – HOSTS Bahrain are set to face South Korea today in the semi-finals of the AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup 2025.
The clash will be the third straight year that the Bahrainis and South Koreans are facing off in the knockout stages of this competition – with the two sides splitting the previous contests.
Last year, when the competition was known as the AVC Challenge Cup, the nationals put up a spirited fight in a heartbreaking 2-3 (24-26, 30-32, 25-22, 25-22, 12-15) defeat at home in the quarter-final stage.
The South Koreans squeaked into the semis along with Qatar, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan, and they eventually took the bronze medals, with the Qataris winning gold and Pakistanis taking silver.
In 2023, the Bahrainis made national sporting history after advancing to the gold medal game of an AVC competition for the first time ever at the senior men’s level. They did so by beating South Korea 3-0 (35-33, 25-23, 25-20) in the quarter-finals of that year’s tournament, known as the AVC Men Challenger, held in Chinese-Taipei.
Also in that competition, national team stars Mohammed Yaqoob, Ali Ebrahim, and Ayman Harwana each came away with a personal trophy for their fine performances en route to Bahrain clinching the silver-medallists.
Yaqoob took home the Best Outside Hitter award, while Ebrahim was named the Best Opposite Spiker. Harwana was honoured as the tournament’s Best Libero.
It was Bahrain’s first and only medal in the history of this competition, which has been rebranded for this year to the AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup.
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