BEACH VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN’S pairings both barged into the semi-finals last night of the 31st Men’s Arab Beach Volleyball Championship 2026, currently being played in Abu Dhabi, the UAE.
The Bahrain A tandem of Hasan Nasser and Jaafar Aljishi and their countrymen in Bahrain B Khaled Abdulla and Ali Hussain continued their outstanding unbeaten runs so far in the tournament and stayed on course for a medal finish.
Nasser and Aljishi claimed an impressive 2-0 (21-12, 21-13) win against the UAE A’s Zayed Bamabad and Rashed Ayoob Hassan in their clash yesterday in the elite eight.
Abdulla and Hussain followed suit with their triumph in straight sets 2-0 (21-17, 24-22) over Iraq A’s Osamah Sabbar and Hasan Taha.
With those results, the Bahrainis maintained their perfect records in the competition, with both tandems having swept their preliminary round pools en route to quarter-finals.
Nasser and Aljishi are now set to take on the Lebanon A pairing of Jad Abi Karam and Hadi El Chabib, who triumphed against Iraq B’s Islam Sachit Matrawi and Ali Hasan Jebu yesterday 2-0 (21-10, 21-12).
Abdulla and Hussain, on the other hand, will lock horns with the Lebanon B duo of Joe El Azzi and Salba Chafic, who defeated Qatar’s Musa Alkeer and Mohamed Ihab 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) in their quarters clash.
Both final four contests are scheduled for 4pm, Bahrain time. The gold medal game is then slated for 7pm, to be preceded by the bronze medal contest at 6pm, both also Bahrain time.
The kingdom’s volleyball squads, coached by veteran Bahraini tactician Mohammed Alshaikh, are part of a nine-team field in the competition flying the flags of five nations, including Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, and hosts UAE. A pairing from Yemen were also scheduled to compete, but withdrew prior to the start of action.
The nationals are in the UAE capital having recently had a successful campaign at the first West Asia Volleyball Association (Wava) Beach Volleyball Tour 2026, held earlier this month in Doha, Qatar. There, Nasser and Aljishi were crowned overall Wava men’s champions, while Abdulla and Hussain secured the bronze medals.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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