National handball team to participate in World Championship in Egypt

Manama, Jan. 13 (BNA): The Bahrain national handball team will tomorrow leave for Egypt, where they will participate in the 27th Men’s Handball World Championship which starts today, and runs until January 31. Bahrain Handball Federation (BHF) President, Ali Mohamed Isa Eshaqi, will lead the kingdom’s delegation to the 27th Men’s Handball World Championship. The technical staff, led by Icelandic coach Holder Johann, had approved a list of 20 players for the 27th Men’s Handball World Championship. They include Hussain Al Sayyad, Mohammed Mirza, Mohammad Abdul-Hussain, Jassim Abbas, Ali Mirza, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Mohammed Ali Abdul Redha, Ali Abdulla, Hassan Al Samahiji, Hassan Shehab, Ahmed Al Maqabi, Ali Abdul Qadir, Mahdi Saad, Qasim Al Shuwaikh, Hussain Mahfoudh, Kumail Mahfoudh, Mohammed Habib Nasser, Abdulla Ali, Ahmed Jalal, and Qassem Qambar. This is the fourth participation of the national handball team in the Men’s Handball World Championship after the 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, the Men's Handball World Championship France 2017, and the Germany Denmark 2019 IHF Men's Handball World Championship. Bahrain will play their first match against defending champions Denmark on Friday. They meet Argentina on Sunday and Congo on Tuesday in the preliminary round matches. The 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship is the first Handball Championship with 32 teams instead of 24. The 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four teams each. The top three teams from each group progress to the main round, while the teams ranked last in their preliminary round groups play the President's Cup. The 24 main round teams are divided into four groups of six teams each. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals. The tournament is being played behind closed doors due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.