?Bahrain’s under-17 handball team yesterday (AUGUST 13) made short work of Chinese Taipei in the Second Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, in China.
A 34-28 victory gave the Bahrainis full points and a morale-boosting start to their title quest in this 16- team event, which is part of a multi-sport continental tournament.
Hassan Madan inspired the Adel Al Sabba-coached Bahraini team scoring eight goals, the highest score in this 60-minute encounter. Bahrain were also leading the game 17-12 at half-time. He was well assisted by Zaher Omar’s five goals.
Bahrain were also spearheaded by Khalil Mubarak, Khaled Al Balooshi, Husain Maki, Hasan Al Adhab, Fadhel Al Haddad, Mahmood Al Salatena, Qasim Hasan, Ali Shaalan, Nadeem Al Qattan, Abdulrahaman Al Douky besides goalkeepers Qasim Al Shuwaikh and Mohamed Farsan.
The young Bahrain handball team were placed in Group ‘C’, which also includes favourites Kuwait and Thailand. In yesterday’s other game, Kuwait romped to a 37-22 (17-12) win over Thailand to share Bahrain the lead in this four-nation group.
The nationals will now take a break today and are scheduled to play their second game tomorrow against Thailand, then take on Kuwait in their concluding game on Friday.
Sixteen teams are competing in the handball championship. They were divided into four groups of four teams, with each group winners and runners-up reaching the second round.
In the second round, also featuring single round robin matches, where the top eight will be drawn into two groups to decide the teams reaching the semi-finals knock-out round.
Bahrain sent three more teams for the nine-day Games. They are athletics, table tennis and fencing. The Games, which officially gets underway on Friday, will feature 118 events in 15 sports, four of which involve football, rugby sevens, 3×3 basketball and handball teams.
Bahrain is one of 45 countries from around Asia to take part in this continental gathering, which is an international multi-sport event held every four years for athletes from 14-17 years old.
The 15 sports for the Second Asian Youth Games in Nanjing include athletics, aquatics (swimming and diving), football, tennis, rugby sevens, golf, fencing, basketball, weightlifting, badminton, table tennis, handball, judo, squash and shooting.
With only two days to go before the opening ceremony of the Games, Games organisers held a press conference to detail the preparatory work on transportation, environmental protection, medical services and other aspects of the Games.
All work on Games services are in place and ready for Nanjing to stage this major international sport event.
According to Shen Shuguang, Director of Games Services Department, the Games’ organizers has set up an AYG Transport Command Center and a transport service taskforce consisting of four teams and two working groups is currently in place.
Meanwhile, the Athletes’ Village of the Asian Youth Games officially opened on Monday amid a grand welcome ceremony for China’s sports delegation at the Great Hall located within the Village’s International Zone.
The flag of Olympic council of Asia, as well as the People’s Republic of China, were raised during the opening ceremony of the athletes’ village. China’s sports delegation was the first to enter the Village.
Yang Weize, Secretary of the Municipal Committee of Nanjing and Executive President of the Organizing Committee, announced the official opening of the Athletes Village and offered his opening remarks.
As one of the key venue of AYG Nanjing 2013 and the most important service provider, the Athletes’ Village will work provide high quality services to create a safe and comfortable environment.
The Village has been divided into three parts, living areas, international areas and public areas. In these areas, Games organizers will provide food service from four designated hotels, registration of athletes and team officials, transportation, logistics, sports exercise, religious services and language assistance.
