HANDBALL – Bahrain's final 18-player squad has been named for the 2025 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship, and it is missing inspirational skipper Hussain Al Sayyad.
The worlds are scheduled to take place January 14 to February 2, co-hosted by Croatia, Denmark, and Norway. It will be bringing together 32 of the top senior men’s national teams from five confederations.
The kingdom’s hopefuls, coached by Icelandic tactician Aron Kristjansson, will need to go against the world’s best without star veteran Hussain Al Sayyad, who is nursing an injury, a Bahrain Handball Federation official told the GDN.
The nationals will thus be spearheaded by their other mainstays in Mohammed Abdulhussain, Mohammed Habib Nasser, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Mohammed Mirza, and Ali Eid, who all have vast experience at the highest level of the game with the senior men’s team.
The rest of the roster is composed of talented up-and-comers Mujtaba Al Zaimour, Jassim Khamis, Abdulla Abdulkarim, Mahmood Al Falahi, Qassim Qambar, Mohammed Hameed, Hesham Ahmed, Ali Redha, Abdulla Al Zaimour, Ahmed Redha, Hussain Abdulla, and Ali Al Asheeri.
The Bahrainis departed yesterday for the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where they will be holding a training camp in the lead-up to the worlds. While there, they will play European giants and three-time world champions Denmark in two friendly matches, scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Following their stint in the Danish capital, the Bahrainis will then travel to the Croatian capital of Zagreb, which will be hosting their pool in the worlds’ preliminary round.
Bahrain are in Group H along with Egypt, Argentina, and co-hosts Croatia. They kick off their tournament campaign on January 15 against the home team at 10.30pm, and then take on Egypt on January 17 at 8pm. They complete the opening round against Argentina on January 19, also at 8pm. All times are Bahrain.
There are eight groups of four teams apiece in the preliminaries. Also set to be held in Croatia are Group C with France, Austria, Qatar, and Kuwait; Group D with Hungary, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, and Guinea; and Group G with Slovenia, Iceland, Cuba, and Cape Verde.
To be hosted in Denmark are Group A with Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Switzerland; and Group B with the co-host Danes, Italy, Algeria, and Tunisia. In Norway are Group E with the co-host Norwegians, Portugal, Brazil, and the US; and Group F with Sweden, Spain, Japan, and Chile.
At the end of a single round-robin, the top three from each pool move on to the main round, while the bottom squads will play for the President’s Cup.
The main phase will see the 24 teams divided into four groups of six nations each; while the President’s Cup will feature the eight bottom-ranked squads divided into two groups.
This year’s tournament marks the sixth time Bahrain are participating in global handball’s premier event, which is held every two years. The nationals first took part in 2011, and then have not missed the worlds since 2017. Their best finish in the competition so far was 16th in 2023.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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