ASIAN YOUTH GAMES – BAHRAIN will be participating with its largest-ever delegation for a continental age-group event in the third Asian Youth Games, which is just a week away.
This was announced last night by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC).
A record 356 individuals, including 204 athletes – 150 boys and 54 girls – will be competing in the mega multi-sport event, which is to be held under the royal patronage of His Majesty King Hamad.
The kingdom’s squad flying the Bahrain flag at home also includes 130 coaches, administration members, and support staff, along with 22 officials from the BOC.
This year’s Asian Youth Games officially gets underway on Wednesday next week, and it will feature more than 4,300 athletes representing 45 National Olympic Committees (NOC), who will be competing in 26 sports – all of which will feature some of the kingdom’s best rising talents.
According to the BOC, the futsal boys’ and girls’ national teams feature the largest number of members at 38. This is followed by the indoor volleyball boys’ and girls’ squads with 36, boys’ equestrian endurance with 27, boys’ and girls’ swimming teams with 24, and boys’ handball with 23.
Bahrain’s athletes will be aiming to capture one of nearly 2,000 medals that are on offer across all sports.
As part of the final preparations for the Games, the kingdom’s delegation, led by Chef de Mission Ahmed Abdulghaffar and deputy Chef de Mission Abbas Bu Hassan, attended a registration meeting where all matters relating to Bahrain’s participants were discussed. This ensures the smooth running of Bahrain’s teams in their respective sports, with all official and technical requirements being met.
Bahrain’s squads are expected to begin arriving at their official residences in the coming days, depending on the start dates of each sport.
The excitement for the third Asian Youth Games continued to build yesterday as the kingdom began to welcome the first batch of officials from the participating delegations. Amongst those touching down in Bahrain were team members from Iran, the Maldives, Jordan, Thailand, and Indonesia, to name a few.
More delegation members from the participating nations are scheduled to continue arriving over the next few days as the final countdown continues to the sporting spectacle.
Several other NOCs have announced their delegation numbers ahead of their upcoming travel to the kingdom. China unveiled yesterday their delegation that includes 293 athletes, while Sri Lanka are sending 100 athletes. The UAE will have 152 competitors, Mongolia are sending 135 athletes, while Jordan will feature 120 athletes.
The 26 sports that will feature at this year’s Asian Youth Games are athletics (track and field and cross country), 3x3 basketball, badminton, volleyball (indoor and beach), road cycling, equestrian (endurance and showjumping), futsal, golf, handball, Muay, jiu-jitsu, judo, kabaddi, mixed martial arts, table tennis, E-sports, taekwondo, wrestling (indoor and beach) boxing, triathlon, weightlifting, teqball, swimming, camel racing, pencak silat, and kurash.
The Games’ official opening ceremony on Wednesday next week will take place at Exhibition World Bahrain (EWB). The inauguration will be held indoors for the first time, diverging from the traditional outdoor settings of previous editions of the Games, which were held in Singapore in 2009 and China in 2013.
Several sports will commence prior to the inauguration. These include the boys’ handball competition, which gets underway on Sunday at the Bahrain Handball Federation Arena in Umm Al Hassam and at Isa Sports City in Riffa; boys’ and girls’ volleyball as well as kabaddi, also at Isa Sports City; and pencak silat and kurash at EWB. On Monday, girls’ handball gets underway at Isa Sports City along with teqball at EWB and beach volleyball at Sama Bay.
All other sports will begin following the opening ceremony.
The final day of this year’s Asian Youth Games is on October 31, and it will only feature the official closing ceremony.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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