VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s volleyball national team made a triumphant start to their medal bid yesterday at the fourth GCC Games in Doha, Qatar.
The kingdom’s title hopefuls outclassed their counterparts from Oman 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-18) with an impressive showing at Aspire Women’s Sports Hall.
The Bahrainis are looking to live up to their billing as one of the favourites for the crown, having emerged as back-to-back men’s volleyball champions in the first two editions of the GCC Games in 2015 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and in 2011 at home.
The nationals had a strong start to yesterday’s contest and were in control for much of the opening set. Veteran Mahmoud Abdulwahed closed out the frame with a stunning spike for his team.
In the second, Bahrain did well to maintain their fine form and a block out on an Abdulla Mohammed Jaafar attack gave them the commanding two-set advantage.
The Bahrainis then went for the kill in set three, and strong play from Ali Ebrahim helped them build a 15-11 lead as they began to pull away from their Omani opponents. After Sayed Hashem Issa scored for Bahrain, Oman battled back to within two, but Ebrahim was again on target with a smash and, later, successive points by Mahmood Abdulhussain – first with a block and then in attack – put them up 22-17.
Ebrahim added another block to extend their lead further, after which Oman gifted Bahrain their final two points of the contest with a pair of errors, sealing the match.
The result gave newly appointed Ivan Joksimovic a winning start to his tenure as senior men’s national team head coach. The Montenegro tactician was signed by the Bahrain Volleyball Association just earlier this month to take over for the departed Arnaud Josserand from France.
Also making key contributions for Bahrain yesterday were Hasan Alwarqaa, Ali Habib, Abbas Abdulla, Mahmood Alafyah, and Hassan Al Shakhouri.
The Bahrainis are back in action today when they take on the UAE at 4pm. They then face off with Qatar on Tuesday at 6.30pm. Both times are Bahrain.
The kingdom’s spikers were the silver-medallists in the previous GCC Games held in Kuwait City in 2022, when Qatar took gold and Oman won the bronze medals.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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