VOLLEYBALL – Defending champions Bahrain powered to their second straight victory in the AVC Men’s Cup 2026 yesterday in Ahmedabad, India.
The kingdom’s senior men’s volleyball national team were dominant in a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-16) victory over New Zealand in their preliminary round Pool A clash at Veer Savarkar Sports Complex.
The game was played over an hour and 41 minutes and the Bahrainis inched closer towards securing a berth in the tournament’s semi-finals.
The nationals will now have a one-day break today before resuming their repeat-title bid tomorrow against the host Indians.
That highly anticipated encounter is scheduled for a 6.30pm start, Bahrain time.
An official rest day will then be held on Wednesday, after which the Bahrainis take on their counterparts from Kazakhstan on Thursday at 3.30pm.
They then complete their Pool A schedule on Friday evening against Australia at 6.30pm.
Both times are also Bahrain.
At the end of the single round-robin, the top two teams from each group march through to the semi-finals, which are scheduled for Saturday next week.
The gold and bronze medal contests will then take place the following day.
Classification matches will also be held on both days to determine fifth through 10th on the final standings.
Pool B in the preliminaries features Qatar, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and Oman.
In their victory yesterday, Bahrain were firing on all cylinders and never gave their opponents a chance to get into their groove.
Mahmood Abdulhussain was the nationals’ top scorer with 11 points – 10 from attack.
Fellow-outside hitter Sayed Hashem Issa and opposite Ali Ebrahim chipped in with eight points apiece, while middle blocker Hasan Haider finished with seven, including a team-best three block points.
Abdulla Mohammed Jaafar contributed six points in the win and Mohammed Abdulla had five for Bahrain, coached by Ivan Joksimovic from Montenegro.
Outside hitter Alan Hodder paced the Kiwis in the loss with 11 points, while middle blocker Carrick Corson added seven and opposite spiker Seth Grant six.
The defeat was the second in as many games for New Zealand.
In other matches yesterday, Chinese Taipei beat Australia 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19), Qatar swept past Thailand 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17), South Korea outclassed Indonesia 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-21), and India outplayed Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-15).
Bahrain’s historic title triumph in last year’s edition of the AVC Men’s Cup marked the kingdom’s first-ever championship in any Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) competition.
Their victory 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.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))