VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s volleyball national team departed last night for Ahmedabad, India ahead of their highly anticipated title defence in the AVC Men’s Cup 2026.
The 12-nation tournament gets underway on Saturday and continues until June 28.
The Bahrainis are the reigning champions of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) event, having captured the crown in last year’s edition which was hosted by the kingdom.
The nationals are set to hit the court in Pool A for the preliminary round alongside Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Australia, and hosts India. Pool B features Qatar, South Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Oman.
The AVC Men’s Cup 2026 marks its seventh edition and it will be the second time it is being held in its current format.
Bahrain, who are being guided by recently signed head coach Ivan Joksimovic from Montenegro, have a 14-player squad for the competition, to be led by top stars Hasan Alwarqaa, Ali Ebrahim, Mahmood Alafyah, Sayed Hashem Issa, Abdulla Mohammed Jaafar, and Mahmoud Abdulwahed, to name a few. The final roster has yet to be announced by the Bahrain Volleyball Association.
The Bahrainis are scheduled to get their repeat-championship bid underway against Chinese Taipei on Saturday. They then take on New Zealand the following day and then get a one-day break before facing the host Indians on Tuesday next week.
An official rest day will then be held next Wednesday, after which the Bahrainis take on their Kazakh counterparts on June 25. They then complete their preliminary round schedule the following evening against Australia.
After the single round-robin, the top two teams from each pool march through to the semi-finals, which are scheduled for June 27. The gold and bronze medal contests will then take place on June 28. Classification matches will also be held on both days to determine fifth through 12th on the final standings.
Bahrain won last year’s title after overcoming Pakistan in four sets in the gold medal game. Qatar, who were winners from 2024, secured the bronze medals after defeating South Korea in three sets.
It was an historic result for Bahrain as it was the kingdom’s first-ever championship in any AVC competition. The result also earned them a spot in the upcoming AVC Volleyball Men’s Continental Championship 2026, which will be held in Fukuoka, Japan, from September 4 to 13.
The nationals have been gearing up for their title-defence in Ahmedabad with local training under the supervision of Joksimovic, who took over for former Olympian Arnaud Josserand from France as head coach.
Joksimovic helped guide the Bahrainis to the gold medals at the fourth GCC Games in Doha, Qatar just last month, and will be looking to add a continental crown to his achievements in only his second tournament in charge of the senior men’s squad.
Bahrain’s title triumph in 2025 made them the fifth team to claim the tournament championship, joining Iraq in 2018, Kyrgyzstan in 2022, Thailand in 2023, and Qatar in 2024. The event’s 2020 edition was not held due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Aside from Bahrain’s gold medals last year, the nationals had also secured silver in 2023, when the competition was still known as the AVC Men’s Challenge Cup.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))