ISLAMIC SOLIDARITY GAMES – A 182-strong delegation will be flying the kingdom’s flag in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games, which gets underway this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Bahrain squad is made up of 102 athletes, including 73 men and 29 women, along with coaches, administrators, medical staff, and media personnel.
The Bahrainis are competing in nearly 20 of the event’s 23 sports, including athletics, Para athletics, 3x3 basketball, handball, volleyball, camel racing, duathlon, equestrian showjumping, esports, shooting, jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, Muay, weightlifting, table tennis, wrestling, and Para powerlifting.
The opening ceremony of this year’s Islamic Solidarity Games is scheduled for Friday night at Al Janadriyah Racecourse. Bahrain’s leading sportsmen and women are amongst 5,000 athletes representing 57 countries in the event, which is scheduled to continue until November 21.
Bahrain’s senior men’s volleyball national team were the first group of the kingdom’s athletes to arrive in the Saudi capital for the Islamic Solidarity Games.
Upon touching down at King Khalid International Airport, the squad were transported to their accommodation at the athletes’ village at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University.
The Bahraini spikers get their medal bid underway tomorrow when they face off with Iran at 4pm at Riyadh’s Boulevard Arena, which is hosting the men’s and women’s volleyball competitions.
The national team began its final preparations at the Saudi capital under the guidance of French head coach Arnaud Josserand.
The team consists of a majority of the players who clinched the titles in the AVC Men’s Nations Cup earlier this year and the 23rd Arab Men’s Volleyball Championship in November of last year. The roster includes Mahmood Alafyah, Hussain Mansoor, Mohammed Anan, Ali Ebrahim, Naser Anan, Mahmoud Abdulwahed, Sayed Hashem Issa, Mahmood Abdulhussain, Mohammed Jassim, Hassan Al Warqaa, Abbas Al Khabbaz, and Ayman Harwana.
Bahrain and Iran are amongst a field of six nations competing in the men’s volleyball tournament of this year’s Islamic Solidarity Games. The others are Türkiye, Qatar, Chad, and hosts Saudi Arabia.
Following their opening fixture tomorrow, the Bahrainis take on Saudi on Saturday at 7pm, and then play Türkiye on Monday at 1pm. They then face Chad on Tuesday next week at 4pm, before completing their round-robin campaign on Wednesday, also next week, against Qatar at 4pm.
The top two teams on the standings will move on to clash in the gold medal game on November 13, while the squads placed third and fourth will clash for the bronze medals the same day.
Meanwhile, administrative members have made it to the Saudi capital, including Hassan Abdulrahim Juma, Yousef Hussein, and Ali Harwana, while the rest of the sports delegations will arrive in the coming days. The administrative delegation have officially registered the kingdom’s athletes and officials in preparation for the start of their respective competitions.
Bahrain’s media delegation have also reached Riyadh for the event, led by Bahrain Olympic Committee media department head Hassan Ali.
The Islamic Solidarity Games stand as the third-largest multi-sport event worldwide, following only the Olympic Games and the Asian Games.
The previous edition was held in 2022 in Konya, Türkiye, where Bahrain’s delegation came away with an impressive 23-medal haul, including nine gold, seven silver, and seven bronze medals. That placed them eighth overall amongst the 44 nations on the final medal table.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))