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The world’s top young volleyball talents will today enjoy a day of rest after a gruelling preliminary round of exciting matches that has thrilled fans of the all-action sport.
Bahrain has this week been hosting the 2017 FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship at the Shaikh Isa Sports City in Isa Town and tomorrow sees the top qualifiers face each other in the tournament’s quarter finals.
The Bahrainis had a dream start to their Pool A campaign in the round robin opening format with a well-deserved 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 25-20) result against their Egyptian counterparts.
The home side started strong and did well to bounce back after losing the third set. They were boosted on the night by the huge crowd of jubilant supporters.
Hard-hitting Husain Thamer scored the most points for the victors with 21 points. Sayed Alabbar added 10, while Hasan Haider and Mahmood Abdulhusain each scored nine. Haider also had four blocks, while Mohamed Jasim finished with six.
After the first game, Bahrain head coach, Yousef Khalifa, said: “This is a good start for us. This is the world championship; we must play every game like a champion.”
However, they agonisingly fell to defeat in their second game with a disheartening loss to the US 1-3 (26-28, 19-25, 25-20, 23-25). The home side tried valiantly and were unlucky in the end in the closely-fought clash.
A spirited performance from opposite spiker Hasan Mohamed, who scored a game-high 24 points in the loss, was not enough as Joel Schneidmiller paced the US with 23 points while also registering two blocks.
Coach Khalifa explained: “We lost but I was still very proud of my players. The US are a very strong team - they are always amongst the best-ranked in the world at whatever level of volleyball. I am satisfied but the result was not for us.”
US head coach Sam Shweisky said after his team’s victory: “We prepared our players the best we could for this game, it took a while to get comfortable and react to such great energy from the crowd. Once we settled, we relaxed more and did a really great job.”
The top two teams following a single round-robin in each pool move on to the next phase. Twenty of the world’s leading under-19 national teams started out vying for the crown and many of the young stars on show will soon progress to their country’s senior national team.
Several coaches have praised the kingdom’s ‘outstanding hospitality and warm welcome’.
And French head coach Belmadi Slimane said that the tournament is an ideal venue to scout some of the world’s stars of tomorrow.
“It’s a great competition for the future,” he said. “It is very important for these young players to be here and pick up some great experience.”
South Korea head coach Park Wongil said: “Thank you to the Bahrain Volleyball Association and FIVB as we are very satisfied with the facilities and services prepared for us,” while Argentina’s Luis Testa added: “Thanks to Bahrain, who have received us like it is our own home.”
The quarter-finals take place on Friday, with the semi-finals on Saturday and the gold and bronze medal matches on Sunday. There will also be classification games from Thursday to Saturday for the lower-ranked squads.
The quarter-finals are set to attract big crowds especially as volleyball is one of the most popular school sports and most families are back in the kingdom after the summer holidays. Entrance to the stadium is only 500 fils and can be purchased at the gate.
