Reigning champions Bahrain will begin their title defence tonight by squaring off against Uzbekistan on the opening day of the 9th Asian Men’s Youth (U19) Handball Championship at the Khalifa Sports City arena.
Slotted in Group A of the 11-team tournament, Bahrain are aiming for a hat-trick of title triumphs after winning the last two editions of the championship in 2018 and 2016. The 2020 tournament, which was scheduled to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Group A also features Iran, India and South Korea.
Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been placed in Group B.
Bahrain have always performed consistently in the tournament, which is held every two years, since their first appearance in 2005, never finishing lower than fourth place, with a bronze medal in 2010 to go along with their gold medal wins in 2016 and 2018. This is the eighth time they are taking part in the championship.
Uzbekistan have qualified for the tournament for only the third time. They finished 11th in their debut appearance in 2012 and seventh in 2016 – both editions, incidentally, were held in Bahrain – and will, doubtless, be bracing for another evening in which they will be up against a buoyant team supported by noisy, boisterous home fans.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals with the remaining sides relegated to classification games to determine the final standings in the championship.
The tournament also serves as a qualifying round for the 10th IHF Youth (U19) Handball World Championship, with the top-placed five teams going through to the event which will be held in Croatia in August, 2023.
The Bahrain-Uzbekistan game will start at 7pm.
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