VOLLEYBALL – Hosts Bahrain extended their winning start in the second Arab Youth Volleyball Championship last night with a dominant 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-19) sweep of Algeria.
The kingdom’s youth men’s national team posted their second straight-sets victory in as many days, adding to their resounding triumph against Jordan in their opening fixture of the single round-robin tournament, currently being played at Isa bin Rashid Volleyball Arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) and Arab Volleyball Association secretary general Feras Al Helwachi attended yesterday’s clash.
He is fresh from attending the Asian Volleyball Confederation Gala held in Bangkok, Thailand, where Bahrain won a major organisational award.
Al Helwachi and other BVA officials met with members of Bahrain’s national team on court following their triumph last night.
In other games on yesterday’s second day of play, Egypt joined Bahrain as winners of two in a row following their 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-16) rout of Jordan, while defending champions Saudi Arabia began their repeat-title bid by edging out Gulf rivals Kuwait 3-2 (25-15, 24-26, 18-25, 29-27, 15-11) in a thriller that could have gone either way.
Today is a rest day in the six-nation tournament. The Bahrainis are back in action tomorrow when they play their third assignment against Kuwait, scheduled for a 7pm start.
In tomorrow’s other fixtures, Algeria and Jordan get the action going at 3pm, to be followed at 5pm by a crucial showdown between Egypt and Saudi.
In their win last night, the Bahrainis put in a strong start and were first to double digits in the opening set following an Ammar Ebrahim smash.
Fellow-middle blocker Ali Abdulla then made a fine stop to give the Bahrainis a commanding 20-9 lead, and they later closed the frame out when Algeria were unable to return an attack.
The Algerians kicked off set two with a tougher fight, but once into their groove, Bahrain pulled away and built a 19-10 cushion.
Skipper Nasralla Haram later had a block to put his team up 22-12, and then Abdulla sealed the second set to stretch their match advantage.
The home team then rode their momentum into the third set, and although Algeria tried valiantly to stay in contention, the nationals were too good on the night and a block out on a Haram spike wrapped up Bahrain’s impressive win.
Following their game with Kuwait tomorrow, the Bahrainis play their penultimate assignment against Saudi on Friday and then complete their tournament schedule against Egypt on Sunday next week on the championship’s concluding night.
The nationals were silver-medallists in the inaugural edition of Arab championship held in 2024, but are looking to go one better this year on their home court.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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