VOLLEYBALL – THE stage is set for the second Arab Youth Volleyball Championship, which gets underway tomorrow at Isa bin Rashid Volleyball Arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
Hosts Bahrain are competing as one of six youth men’s national teams from across the region in the single round-robin tournament. The others that will be vying for gold are defending champions Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt.
The kingdom’s squad were silver-medallists in the event’s previous edition, held in 2024 in Amman, Jordan. Libya joined them and Saudi on the podium, but are not taking part this year.
The championship is being organised and run by the Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) in coordination with the Arab Volleyball Association (AVA).
The tournament’s executive committee is chaired by BVA and AVA secretary general Feras Al Helwachi, who has been spearheading local preparations for the event, under the directives of BVA and AVA president Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa.
Three fixtures a day over five match days are set to take place, offering plenty of exciting action for the kingdom’s volleyball fans.
Bahrain have a 15-player squad for their Arab title bid. Ahead of this tournament, they flew the kingdom’s flag in the AVC Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship 2026, held last month in Haikou, China, where they finished 12th overall amongst the 16 participating teams.
The national team’s roster is coached by veteran tactician Yusuf Khalifa, and it includes outside hitters Sayed Hasan Alabbar, Ebrahim Alhamar, Abdulla Aljaboori, Mohamed Haram, and skipper Nasralla Haram; opposite spikers Karrar Yaqoob, Mohammed Kadhem, and Hadi Hussain; middle blockers Ammar Ebrahim, Mustafa Ebrahim, and Ali Abdulla; setters Ahmed Husain and Hussain Albalooshi; and liberos Hadi Ahmed and Abbas Mohamed.
The Bahrainis played a friendly match at the championship venue against their counterparts from Jordan on Thursday night, winning in three sets.
The Jordanians were the first participating team from abroad to reach the kingdom ahead of the championship. They conducted their final training camp here
Bahrain begin their championship schedule against Algeria on Sunday night. They then take on their Jordanian counterparts the following evening, before playing Kuwait on Wednesday.
The nationals then lock horns with holders Saudi in their penultimate assignment on Friday next week, after which they wrap up their campaign against Egypt on the competition’s final day next Sunday.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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