HANDBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s handball national team completed yesterday their short stint in Copenhagen, Denmark, which was part of their final lead-up to the 2025 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship, which gets underway on Tuesday.
The nationals played two friendly games against the reigning world champions Danes during their visit to their capital. They lost both times – first 17-33 and then 20-39.
The two sides have been gearing up to compete in the upcoming worlds, which are set to be hosted by three nations, including Denmark, Croatia, and Norway.
The Bahrainis are in Group H for the competition, which will be held in Croatia. They will be competing with the hosts, Egypt, and Argentina in their pool for the competition’s preliminary round.
The nationals travelled yesterday to Zagreb. They are scheduled to begin their campaign in the worlds on Wednesday against the Croatians at 10.30pm. They then take on Egypt on Friday at 8pm, before completing the opening phase 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, which will see the 24 advancing sides divided into four groups of six nations each. The eight bottom squads from the preliminaries will compete for the President’s Cup, which will feature two groups.
The Bahrainis have a generally young 18-player team for this year’s worlds. The squad, coached by Icelandic tactician Aron Kristjansson, includes Mohammed Abdulhussain, Mohammed Habib Nasser, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Mohammed Mirza, Ali Eid, 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.
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