BAHRAIN last night made a perfect start to their title quest in the 17th Asian Men’s Under-20 Volleyball Championship. The hosts defeated Maldives 25-12, 25-8, 25-9.
Cheered on by thousands of supporters at Isa Sports City’s main hall in Riffa City, the Bahrainis lived up to expectations and sealed the match in less than an hour.
The one-sided game was an opportunity for Bahrain’s coach and former national team skipper Reda Ali to try all his 12 players – Juma Al Atawi, Mohammed Anan, Mahmood Abdulwahed, Hussain Attiya, Jawad Mohammed, Yousef Sadeq, playmakers Abdulrahman Khalid and Ebrahim Abdulla, and liberoes Mohammed Ahmed and Mujtaba Mansoor.
On the other hand, Maldives’ coach Ibrahim Nizar was banking on his skipper Hussein Nilam, the most prominent member of the team, who made the most of the scoring. However, Bahraini players teamwork proved decisive in the end.
Bahrain are in a four-team Group ‘A’ along with Thailand and Saudi Arabia. Bahrain’s next opponents are Saudi Arabia today while their concluding group game is scheduled for Tuesday against Thailand.
Patronised
Earlier, the tournament, patronised by Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, was declared open by BOC general secretary Abdulrahman Askar.
Five more matches in three other groups took place yesterday at two different venues.
Defending champions Japan blanked Kuwait 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-5) to boost their chances of winning this competition for a third consecutive time.
The Japanese have dominated the under-20 competition in recent times, scoring a comprehensive 3-0 win over China in Iran two years ago, to follow from its 3-1 win over Iran in Thailand in 2010.
The top seeds are placed with sixth seed Taipei, ninth seed Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Six-time winners South Korea, who are looking to win a medal for the first time in a decade, started their campaign with an easy 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-20) win over New Zealand in Group ‘C’.
Third seeds and four-time winners Iran, competing at this event for the first time since 1996, recovered from a stumbling start to edge out Hong Kong 3-1 (23-25, 25-10, 25-18, 25-11) in Group ‘D’.
The day got underway with two early matches. Kazakhstan defeated Uzbekistan 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-20) in Group ‘B’ while Turkmenistan went down to India 0-3 (12-25, 16-25, 17-25) in Group ‘D’.
Only three countries ‘“ India, Japan and South Korea ‘“ have competed at every under-20 Asian Championships while Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are playing in their second championships after debuting two years ago.
Second seeds China from Group ‘C’ had a day off yesterday and will be take on New Zealand today.
Bahrain TV Sports Channel is showing all matches live.
The championship is sponsored by 11 companies with Fastlink being the Diamond sponsors. Other sponsors are GPIC, Bapco, Banagas, Batelco, Cheveron, Al Hawaj, Majesty Cars, Alba, Galaxy Travel and Tourism, McDonald’s and the Bahrain Olympic Committee.
Today’s fixtures: 2pm ‘“ Kazakhstan vs Kuwait (Group ‘B’); 2pm: Turkmenistan vs Hong Kong (Group ‘D’); 4pm: Taiwan vs Japan (Group ‘B’); 4pm: New Zealand vs China (Group ‘C’); 6.30pm: Saudi Arabia vs Bahrain (Group ‘A’); 6.30pm ‘“ Qatar vs Iran (Group ‘D’).