Kuwait City, Kuwait, May 20, 2022: Bahrain began their campaign for a third successive gold medal in volleyball at the Gulf Games on a high note when they defeated Saudi Arabia 3-1 in their opening encounter on Friday night, May 20.
Boosted by the presence of top Brazilian coach Issanye Ramirez Ferraz, Bahrain looked focused on making it a golden hat-trick in the six-team competition which is being played on a round-robin format.
“It is always good to start a tournament with a win against your name. The pressure will be on us always as defending champions, but I’m confident we can win the gold again,” Bahrain team manager Mohamed Al-Hayki said.
The Saudis took the first set 25-20 before the champions came back strongly winning the next three, 25-13, 25-23, 25-13, to kick-start their campaign to repeat their gold medal-winning performances in 2011 and 2015 at the Gulf Games.
With help from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), Bahrain has made giant strides in the last few years. As part of this assistance, the highly-experienced Brazilian Ferraz was appointed as a full-time coach to lead the country’s senior and youth national teams.
At this year’s Men’s Asian Volleyball Championship, Bahrain finished in a creditable 10th place while the U21 team earned its first FIVB U21 Men’s World Championship victory last October defeating Morocco. The U19 team finished second at the Gulf U19 Championship.
Noting these results, FIVB President Dr Ary Graca, himself a Brazilian, recently remarked: “The achievements we see in Bahrain are testament to Bahrain Volleyball Association’s commitment to improve the level of the sport in Bahrain.”
The defending champions will, however, be missing key player Mohamed Anan, who dislocated his shoulder six weeks ago in a local league match. “We will miss him but I believe we are good enough to still win this tournament,” said manager Al-Hayki.
With one win notched up, Bahrain will come up against the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, with the latter expected to provide the strongest challenge.