VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s volleyball national team get their title defence underway today in the 24th Arab Men’s Volleyball Championship, where they will be welcoming the return of superstar outside hitter Mohammed Yaqoob.
The six-nation tournament is to be held in Amman, Jordan, organised by the Arab Volleyball Association in co-operation with the Jordan Volleyball Federation.
The other teams competing in the event are Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and hosts Jordan. Three other sides were also originally set to participate, but have withdrawn, including Egypt, Tunisia, and Palestine.
Yaqoob will be spearheading the kingdom’s 14-player squad after a lengthy absence from competition due to an injury.
The other players on the roster include Hasan Haider, Ali Habib, Mahmoud Abdulhussain, Ayman Harwana, Abbas Sultan, Abdulla Mohammed Jaafar, Ali Khamis, Mahmood Alafyah, Ahmed Mohammed Saleh, Ali Yusuf, Sayed Hashem Issa, Mahmood Abdulhussain, and Mohammed Abdulla.
The Bahrainis, coached by Ivan Joksimovic, are fresh from competing in the AVC Volleyball Men’s Continental Championship 2026 in Fukuoka, Japan, where they battled amongst 11 of the continent’s other best senior men’s squads.
The league-type Arab championship is scheduled to continue until October 14.
Bahrain open their schedule today against Kuwait at 3pm. They then take on the home side Jordanians on Friday at 6pm and then face Saudi on Saturday at 4pm. The nationals then go up against Algeria on Tuesday next week at 4pm, and then wrap up their repeat title bid the following evening at 6pm on the concluding day of action. All times are Bahrain.
The nationals will be gunning for their fourth title in the regional tournament. They won the title in the last event held in the kingdom in November of 2024, when they claimed a resounding victory in four sets against continental powerhouses Qatar in the final.
The other times they were crowned Arab champions were in 1992 and 2008.
Aside from their Fukuoka foray, the nationals also flew the kingdom’s flag earlier this year in the AVC Men’s Cup 2026 last June in Ahmedabad, India, where they narrowly missed out on the podium by finishing fourth amongst 11 countries.
Bahrain secured their berth in Fukuoka with their historic title triumph in the AVC Men’s Cup 2025 – achieved at home as their first-ever crown at any level of an Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) event.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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