ASIAN BEACH GAMES – TEAM Bahrain are all geared up for their highly anticipated participation in the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China, the kingdom’s chef de mission Ahmed Abdulghaffar confirmed yesterday.
The prestigious multi-sport meeting officially gets underway on Wednesday, and Abdulghaffar, who is also the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) executive director of operations, noted that preparations are proceeding according to plan and that all members of the Bahraini contingent – including athletes as well as technical, administrative, and media staff – are looking forward to the start of competition.
Abdulghaffar highlighted that the Bahraini delegation enjoys the full support and follow-up of the BOC, headed by Supreme Council for Youth and Sport first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman, and BOC president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
He explained that the kingdom’s participation in Sanya reflects the great support that the sports movement enjoys from Shaikh Khalid.
Abdulghaffar noted that the official opening ceremony on Wednesday will be a special moment for all participating delegations, and he expressed his pride in being part of the team flying the Bahraini flag in the event.
Team Bahrain feature 20 elite men’s athletes who will be going for gold in four sports at this year’s Asian Beach Games, including 3x3 basketball, beach handball, beach wrestling, and open water swimming under aquatics.
The 3x3 basketball team – composed of the quartet of Bogdan Dragovic, Milos Supica, Nasser Al Mosawi, and Austin Ajukwa – continued their training camp yesterday in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, while swimmer William Balzano stepped up his preparations in the pool.
Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa Ishaqi arrived yesterday in Sanya, where he was received by the administrative team of the Bahraini mission.
Ishaqi expressed his keenness to follow the participation of Bahrain’s beach handball national team in this year’s Asian Beach Games.
Bahrain’s beach handball squad will be first to begin the kingdom’s medal bid in Sanya when they take to their playing court tomorrow. The 3x3 basketball team will begin their tournament on Saturday, while Balzano and fellow-simmer Robert Bonsall will hit the water on Sunday next week. The kingdom’s quartet of elite grapplers will then go for beach wrestling gold on April 28 and 29.
Bahrain are amongst 45 delegations from across the continent who will be competing in the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) meeting.
There are 14 sports at this year’s Asian Beach Games. Along with the four that Bahrain are taking part in, the others include beach soccer, beach kabaddi, beach athletics, dragon boat, jiu-jitsu, sailing, speed sports climbing, teqball, aquathlon triathlon, and beach volleyball.
This year’s edition of the Asian Beach Games will be the first time the multi-sport event is to be held in a decade – with the previous occasion happening in 2016 in Da Nang, Vietnam.
In the past five editions, Bahrain bagged a total of 11 medals, including seven gold, three silver, and one bronze.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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