VOLLEYBALL – Bahrain were eliminated from further title contention yesterday in the AVC Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship 2026, currently being played in Haikou, China.
The kingdom’s youth men’s national team were handed a tough 1-3 (22-25, 25-13, 23-25, 15-25) defeat by the Philippines for back-to-back losses in preliminary Pool B at Haikou Wuyuan River Gymnasium.
For the second straight game, the Bahrainis bounced back after losing the first set, but then narrowly conceded the third and were unable to recover.
Their defeat yesterday followed their opening game setback against India – a game they gave up in similar fashion – and it left them with no shot at advancing to the knockout rounds.
The Yusuf Khalifa-coached Bahrainis have one fixture remaining in the preliminaries.
It will be today against Pool B leaders Iran, scheduled for a 5am start, Bahrain time.
The Iranians maintained their undefeated record so far yesterday after defeating their Indian counterparts 3-1 (29-27, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22).
In Bahrain’s loss to the Philippines, outside hitter Mohamed Haram and skipper Nasralla Haram were again the top scorers, finishing with 18 and 16 points, respectively.
Opposite spiker Mohammed Kadhem chipped in with 12 markers for the nationals.
Pacing the Filipinos was Terrence Jame Marticion, who finished with 16 points.
Fellow-outside hitter Raphael Galapin added 11while skipper and setter John Howard Guerra had 10 for the Philippines, who claimed their first triumph in Haikou after earlier losing to Iran.
In other results yesterday on the second day of action in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) competition, Chinese Taipei swept past Indonesia 3-0 (32-30, 25-16, 26-24) and China beat Hong Kong 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-20) in Pool A; Pakistan outclassed Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-9) and Thailand cruised past Kyrgyzstan 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-16); and South Korea ousted Saudi Arabia 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-13) and Japan outplayed Australia 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-7) in Pool D.
At the end of the single round-robin today, the top two teams from each of the four groups move on to the quarter-finals, which are scheduled for Thursday following a rest day for all teams today.
The final four is then slated for Friday, which will set the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on Saturday.
Classification affairs will also take place on those days.
Bahrain are making their third appearance in the under-18 event, which is in its 16th edition.
The tournament also serves as a qualifier for the 2027 FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship, with the top four finishers earning their right to represent the continent on volleyball’s biggest youth stage.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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