VOLLEYBALL – THE Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA) announced yesterday that fans will have free entry to watch all the matches in next week’s AVC Challenge Cup for Men.
The 12-nation competition is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, with all games being played at Isa bin Rashid Volleyball Arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
The competition’s supreme executive committee is calling on all the kingdom’s volleyball fans to enjoy the action and support the participating senior men’s teams, particularly Bahrain, who will be playing at home in this high-level tournament against some of the continent’s best, including six squads currently ranked in the top 50 in the world.
Meanwhile, the participating delegations who will be coming from overseas are scheduled to begin arriving today, the BVA said. Qatar are the first scheduled to reach the kingdom this afternoon, to be followed by South Korea in the evening. The teams will continue to touch down on the island tomorrow and Friday, with Pakistan being the last side scheduled to arrive.
A delegation of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) officials is also scheduled to reach Bahrain tomorrow. A general meeting will take place on Friday to tackle all the final arrangements for Sunday’s start of play.
Meanwhile, the championship’s local referees committee held a co-ordination meeting in preparation for the tournament at the BVA headquarters. The gathering took place under the chairmanship of top Bahraini referee Rashid Jaber, who praised the officials and their keenness to participate in the tournament.
During the meeting, important guidelines for the championship were discussed. A final rehearsal for the local referees will be held on Saturday in the presence of the tournament’s refereeing committee and other participating officials.
For the preliminary round of this year’s AVC Challenge Cup for Men, Bahrain are in Pool A along with world number 31 China and the Philippines. Pool B consists of defending champions Thailand, Kazakhstan, and world number 49 Pakistan, while Pool C features world number 28 South Korea, Indonesia, and world number 21 Qatar. Pool D is composed of world number 35 Australia, world number 43 Chinese Taipei, and Vietnam.
The kingdom is hosting this tournament for the first time. It is the first of two major AVC events set to be staged by Bahrain this year, as the 15th Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Championship will also be taking place on the island from July 28 to August 4, 16 youth national squads in the fray.
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