VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN is all geared up to host the second edition of the Arab Youth Volleyball Championship.
The under-17 tournament, organised by the Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) in coordination with the Arab Volleyball Association (AVA), will be played at Isa bin Rashid Volleyball Arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa from August 9 to 16.
Six nations will be battling for a place on the podium in a single round-robin.
The participating youth men’s national teams will be flying the flags of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, and hosts Bahrain.
Three matches are scheduled on each of the five days of action.
Tournament organisers held earlier this week the official draw to determine the schedule of play.
It was conducted by BVA and AVA secretary general Feras Al Helwachi in the presence of other BVA officials and representatives from the participating teams, a majority of whom joined via video conference.
The kingdom’s youth men’s squad enter the Arab championship having recently played in the AVC Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship 2026, held earlier this month in Haikou, China, where they finished 12th overall amongst the 16 participating teams.
Bahrain were the silver-medallists from the inaugural edition of the Arab youth tournament held in Amman, Jordan in 2024.
The Saudis captured the gold medals and will be looking to defend their crown, while Libya came away with bronze.
Bahrain are expected to field the same team at home as the one that competed in Haikou.
Guided by Bahraini head coach Yusuf Khalifa, the nationals’ line-up in the AVC Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) event featured outside hitters Sayed Hasan Alabbar, Ebrahim Alhamar, Abdulla Aljaboori, Mohamed Haram, and skipper Nasralla Haram; opposite spikers Karrar Yaqoob and Mohammed Kadhem; middle blockers Ammar Ebrahim, Mustafa Ebrahim, and Ali Abdulla; setters Ahmed Husain and Hussain Albalooshi; and liberos Hadi Ahmed and Abbas Mohamed.
The nationals kick off their Arab title bid against Algeria on opening night before taking on their Jordanian counterparts the following evening.
They then play Kuwait on August 12 before going up against Saudi in their penultimate assignment on August 14.
The nationals close their campaign against Egypt on the championship’s final day on August 16.
The competition’s executive committee stepped up their final preparations for the event.
Under the directives of BVA and AVA president Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, the executive committee is headed by Alhelwachi, and it includes working committees heads Abdulredha Ashouri for accommodation, Rashid Jaber for referees, Hassan Al Farsani for finance, Zahra Thamer for secretariat, Hassan Ali for media, Ali Makki for stadiums, and Mahdi Al Jamri for transportation.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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