HANDBALL – Bahrain's under-19 handball national team take on their counterparts from the US today in their opening fixture of the President’s Cup in the 11th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, currently being played in Cairo, Egypt.
The President’s Cup is the lower-tier category that follows the preliminary round which will decide 17th to 32nd places on the worlds’ final classification.
Today’s game is scheduled for a 5.15pm throw-off, Bahrain time, and it will be played at New Capital Sports Hall in Cairo.
The Bahrainis and Americans are in Group IV of this stage alongside South Korea and Tunisia. Bahrain and South Korea were third and fourth, respectively, in Group G of the preliminary round, dropping them to this phase of the tournament.
The South Koreans and Tunisians clash in tonight’s other divisional tie.
Tomorrow, Bahrain play Tunisia, also at 5.15pm, and then South Korea take on the US at 7.30pm. Both times are Bahrain.
The Bahrainis and South Koreans will no longer be facing one another in Group IV as their head-to-head result from the preliminaries – a 36-33 triumph for the nationals – carries over to this round.
Other teams in the President’s Cup are Portugal, Kosovo, Morocco, and Kuwait in Group I; Brazil, Croatia, Algeria, and Guinea in Group II; and Faroe Islands, Uruguay, Argentina, and Mexico in Group III.
Making it through to the main round and still in contention for the coveted world title are Hungary, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland in Group I; defending world champions Spain, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia in Group II; Norway, Germany, Slovenia, and France in Group III; and hosts Egypt, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Japan in Group IV.
Matches in this category are also scheduled to begin today. Only the top two from each division move on to the quarter-finals.
Bahrain’s team in Cairo, coached by Raed Al Marzooq, features centre backs Mohamed Tarrada, Qassim Sabt, and skipper Mohamed Abbas; left backs Mahmood Yusuf, Mohamed Aadam, and Abbas Ali; right backs Mahdi Ali, Sayed Majeed Almuhafda, and Ali Jadeed, left wings Ahmed Eid and Ali Aryash, right wings Salman Alshowaikh and Abuthar Yateem, pivots Sayed Ahmed Alfalahi, Fadhel Ebrahim, and Ahmed Shamlooh, and goalkeepers Mohamed Abdulhusan and Haidar Salman.
The worlds have been organised and are being run by the International Handball Federation (IHF). The tournament is scheduled to continue until Sunday next week.
Bahrain are competing for the sixth time in the history of the worlds. They secured their place after finishing fifth in the 10th Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship, held last year in Amman, Jordan.
They made their debut as hosts in the 2007 edition, and then also played in 2011 in Argentina. They have then made it to the event in its last three editions in 2017 in Georgia, 2019 in North Macedonia, and in 2023 in Croatia.
Their best finish in the tournament was at home in 2007, when only 16 nations participated. Then, they made it to the eight-team main round, and then lost to Spain in their concluding classification contest for seventh overall.
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