THE cream of Bahrain’s netballing talent will set off for the UAE tomorrow to represent the kingdom at the annual Inter-Gulf Championships in Abu Dhabi.
This year’s competition will take place at the Abu Dhabi Tennis Association complex and will feature teams from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Kuwait and Qatar as well as the three squads from Bahrain, once again proudly supported by DHL.
The DHL Bahrain A, B and Youth squads will take their respective places in the pool stages, where they will battle it out for the chance to enter the knockout rounds of the Cup and Plate competitions on day two.
Made up of players from participating teams in the DHL Bahrain Expatriate Netball League, the squads were selected on the back of a series of trials held last November and have been undergoing a strict training programme at Bahrain Rugby Football Club (RFC) in Saar since then.
Despite losing a number of key players over the last 12 months, this year’s DHL A side has an experienced look to it as Inter-Gulf veterans Helen Hind, Helen Stewart, Adele Ifan, Mel Goosen, Maya Taylor, Ruth Daly and Kate Elsworth are joined by British Club captain Fifi Faiz and teenage sensation Melinda Legg.
The B team will also be well very familiar with what is the premier netball event in the Gulf region as they can call on the likes of seasoned campaigners Khulood Al Sabah, Jeannine Wessels, Laura O’Connor and Inter-Gulf veterans Kirsty Edwards Harris and Sheron Hujair in their bid to regain the Plate title they won back in 2009.
A very welcome addition to the Bahrain traveling party this year is the presence of the DHL Bahrain Youths in this year’s competition.
The youth squad is made up almost entirely of Ohlala! (Dilmun Club) Youth team players, who have been one of the surprise packages of this season DHL Bahrain Netball League, with Keilan Kabaloui, Kianna Legg, Kirsty Coyle and Ellie and Olivia Wilson all included.
The 33-strong contingent from Bahrain will be led by team coaches Helen Edwards, Sheron Hujair and Hilary Rowark, accompanied by osteopath Lana Peters and joined in Abu Dhabi by team medic Tina McMurdo and official coaching consultant Veronica Arnold from Hong Kong Netball.
Speaking ahead of the group’s departure, Inter-Gulf squad coordinator Helen Stewart said the teams are determined to improve on last year’s performance and have been working extremely hard over the past few months.
DHL Netball League chairperson Helen Edwards meanwhile paid thanks to the support of sponsor DHL and said the teams would wear the kit with pride.