HANDBALL – Twenty-four players have been called up for the latest training gathering of Bahrain’s senior men’s handball national team, which gets underway on Tuesday and continues until Sunday next week.
The Bahrain Handball Federation has announced the roster selected by the kingdom’s head coach Robert Hedin from Sweden as they gear up for their upcoming competitions, headlined by the 30th IHF Men’s Handball World Championship, to be held in January next year across six host cities in Germany.
Hedin is focused on the task at hand
The Bahrainis are coming off their historic title triumph in the men’s handball tournament at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, which was their first-ever crown in the history of the quadrennial Asiad.
Their victory is part of a sensational 2026 season, in which they had also won the gold medals for the first time ever in the Asian Men’s Handball Championship, held in Kuwait City, Kuwait last January.
Hedin’s squad is spearheaded by inspirational skipper Hussain Al Sayyad from Saudi Arabia’s Khaleej Club.
The rest of the team features top names from seven Bahraini teams, including reigning Khalid Bin Hamad Bahrain Handball League champions Barbar, as well as Al Najma, Al Ahli, Samaheej, Tubli, Tadhamun, and Al Ettifaq.
The players from Barbar include Salman Alshowaikh and Muayad Sameer; from Najma are Mohammed Abdulhussain, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Hasan Madan, Hassan Mirza, Sayed Ali Basem, Ahmed Jalal, Abdulla Abdulkarim, and Jassim Khamis; from Ahli are Mohamed Rabia, Qassim Qambar, Ahmed Kadhem, Ali Mahmoud, Hesham Ahmed, and Ahmed Eid; from Samaheej is Abu Dhar Jaafar; from Tubli are Sayed Mahmood Alfalahi and Hassan Saif; from Tadhamun are Ali Redha Kadhem and Jaafar Alshaheed; and from Ettifaq are Mohammed Haitham and Ali Almahroos.
The BHF is looking to schedule friendly games during their upcoming training period, but they have yet to be confirmed.
Bahrain are set to compete in next year’s world championships as one of five nations representing the Asian Handball Federation.
They are part of a 32-country field of the best senior men’s handball national teams from around the world.
The nationals were drawn in a challenging Group H for the preliminary round along with Iceland, North Macedonia, and fellow-continental outfit Japan.
Group A features Germany, Serbia, Tunisia, and Uruguay; Group B is composed of Egypt, Italy, Cape Verde, and Saudi Arabia; Group C is comprised of Croatia, Spain, Chile, and Türkiye; Group D consists of Argentina, France, Brazil, and Kuwait; Group E includes Sweden, Norway, Greece, and Qatar; Group F features Portugal, Faroe Islands, Poland, and Algeria; and Group G is composed of defending champions Denmark, Slovenia, the US, and Angola.
The nationals are set to compete in the sport’s showpiece event for the seventh time.
They made their debut in the 2011 tournament and have competed in each of the last five editions.
Their best-ever classification was in the 2023 worlds when they finished 16th amongst 32 participating countries.
Aside from being champions of both Asia and the Asian Games, Hedin also spearheaded the kingdom’s squad to the gold medals in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games last year and the fourth GCC Games in May.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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