HANDBALL – BAHRAIN face off with Asian champions Japan this evening in their opening game of the 11th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, which is scheduled to get underway in Egypt.
The contest is part of the Group G programme in the tournament’s preliminary round. It is scheduled for a 5.15pm throw off, Bahrain time. It will be played at Cairo Stadium Hall One in the Egyptian capital.
Today’s other Group G fixture is between hosts and reigning champions Egypt and continental powerhouses South Korea. To be played at the same venue, the contest is set to get underway at 8pm, also Bahrain time.
Bahrain are one of 32 youth men’s national teams taking part in the under-19 event, which has been organised and is to be run by the International Handball Federation (IHF). The worlds are scheduled to continue until August 17.
The Bahrainis are coached by Bahraini tactician Raed Al Mrazouq. They arrived in Cairo last night and went straight to work with their final preparations for the start of play.
The kingdom’s representatives have 19 players on their roster for the tournament, including Haider Mohammed Salman, Ali Fayed, Ahmed Hussain Eid, Salman Hameed Al Showaikh, Abu Dhar Jaafar, Sayed Ahmed Al Falahi, Fadhel Abbas, Mohammed Jaafar Abdulla, Qasim Mohammed Sabt, Ahmed Abdulamir Shamloh, Abbas Hussain Ali, Mahmoud Jalil Youssef, Mohammed Haitham Adam, Mohammed Ahmed Tarada, Ali Sami, Mahdi Ali Fateel, Sayed Majeed Al Muhafaza, Mohammed Zuhair Abdul Hassan, and Ali Abdulla Khalifa.
Following their game tonight against the Japanese, Bahrain will next take on the home team tomorrow at 7.30pm. They then wrap up the group stage against South Korea on Saturday at 5.15pm. Both times are Bahrain, and each game will take place at Cairo Stadium’s Hall One.
There are eight groups in all in this preliminary phase. Group A features Sweden, Portugal, Kuwait, and Austria; Group B is composed of Hungary, Switzerland, Morocco, and Kosovo; Group C comprises Serbia, Spain, Croatia, and Algeria; Group D includes Iceland, Brazil, Guinea, and Saudi; Group E features Germany, Slovenia, Uruguay, and Faroe Islands; Group F is composed of Norway, France, Argentina, and Mexico; and Group H comprises Denmark, Tunisia, the Czech Republic, and the US.
The top two from each will move on to the worlds’ main round, while the pair of bottom-ranked sides will compete in the lower-tier President’s Cup, which will determine 17th to 32nd on the tournament’s final rankings.
The kingdom’s delegation in Cairo is headed by Bahrain Handball Federation (BHF) board members Abdulrazzaq Khalil and Ali Al Jokam. The team’s administrator is Mohammed Al Showaikh, while the other delegation members are assistant coach Ahmed Tarada, goalkeeper coach Makram Al Misawi, technical analyst Qasim Mohammed, and physical therapist Karim Hassan.
Bahrain are competing for the sixth time in the history of the competition.
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