HANDBALL – Bahrain get their campaign underway today in the inaugural edition of the Asian Men’s U-17 Handball Championship, currently being held in Amman, Jordan.
The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) tournament features 13 cadets national teams from across the continent.
It also acts as the Asian qualifier for the IHF Men’s U-17 Handball World Championship, to be held in Morocco from October 24 to November 1.
The top two teams from this event will book their tickets to the worlds.
The Bahrainis are in Group A for the competition’s preliminary round alongside Hong Kong and Kuwait.
Group B features Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and China; while Group C comprises Jordan, Chinese Taipei and India. Group D includes South Korea, Iran, the Maldives, and Syria.
Play began with five matches yesterday but Bahrain were idle.
The nationals first take on Hong Kong today at 11am, Bahrain time.
They then wrap up their preliminary round schedule against Kuwait tomorrow at 1pm, also Bahrain.
Following a single round-robin, the top two teams from each group move on to the main round, where they will be divided into another two groups of four.
Another round-robin will be played to determine the semi-finalists, which will be held on September 23. The gold and bronze medal games are then set for September 25, the championship’s concluding day.
The sides that will not make it into the main round will compete in a lower-tier competition for the Martyr Fahad al Ahmad Al Sabah Cup, which will determine ninth through 13th, respectively.
Bahrain head coach Mohammed Abdelrahman from Egypt has an 18-player squad in the Jordanian capital.
The roster includes Mahdi Fateel, Sayed Majeed Al Muhafaza, Wadih Hilal, Sayed Mahmoud Basem, Issa Babour, Sayed Ali Bashar, Ali Adel, Abdulla Hussain, Hassan Saif, Ahmed Abdulla, Ali Mahrous, Sayed Omran Al Muhafaza, Jaafar Al Zain, Hussain Qasim, Mohammed Hilal, Mahmood Ali, Sayed Noah Mohammed, and Mohammed Al Marzouq.
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