Session adjourned - Gulf Daily News

Email: gdnsport@batelco.com.bhBAHRAIN SPORT Gulf Daily News Tuesday, 25th June 201329Athletes leave for Asian Indoor GamesBAHRAIN’s delegation to the fourthAsian Indoor and Martial Arts GamesSunni, Fatma Yousufand May Al Doseri.The bowling teamswill be headed bylier this week, with Saud Al Ghenaimbeing the delegation director.(AIMAG), set to take place in Incheon, The teams will beBahrain Bowling The team, which also includes assistantSouth Korea, will be travelling today to travelling along withAssociation president director Hamad Al Baker and treasurerthe Far East.Bahrain BilliardsAbdulla Al Dossary. Mahmood Ashoori, arrived in Incheon toThe eight-day Games are scheduled and SnookerTwo of Bahrain’s finalise the delegation members’ registrationto get underway on Saturday. It providesFederation boardfinest swimmers willprocess and secure accommodation.a large-scale regional competitive member Hussainbe representing their The Games will be the first Olympicarena for a wide range of categories Bukhammas.nation in the Games. Council of Asia Games to combine thesuch as Muay Thai, dance sport, billiards,In bowling, n Al Hassan n Al Baker Promising junior Asian Indoor Games and the Asianfutsal and electronic gaming.Bahrain will be spearheaded by 29Bahrain is sendingeight of its bestFarhan Saleh Farajis due to competeMartial Arts Games. Featuring ninesports in all, the Fourth AIMAG willathletes in three sporting disciplines – players, namelyin the men’s 50m, be a high-profile test event for the 17thbilliards, bowling and swimming. Masood Saberi,100m and 200m freestyleAsian Games in Incheon next year.Bahrain Olympic Committee sportsaffairs executive director Noaman AlHassan is leading the kingdom’s delegationto Incheon.In billiards, the nationals will make uptwo teams. The men’s team consists of AliHassan, Saleh Ahmed, Ali Mohammedand Abdulla Isa. The women’s teamincludes Jumeya Al Doseri, Nahla AlAhmed Al Gaoud,Isa Abduljabbar andTaha Ebrahim, whoare all lined up inthe men’s division.The remaining four bowlers, namelyFatema Khalid, Noora Al Janahi, MajdaTaher and Layla Janahi are scheduled tocompete in the women’s section.events, while23-year-old SameeraAl Bitar will participatein the women’s50m and 100m freestyle contests, as wellin the 50m breaststroke. They are travelingalong with their manager Khalid Ahmed.Meanwhile, Bahrain’s administrativeteam to the Games left for Incheon ear-Nine venues will be specially preparedfor the Games, along with anAthletes’ Village and a planned recruitmentof 3,000 volunteers for the event.Venues include seven existing and twonew arenas for swimming and futsal,besides five for training. The openingand closing ceremonies will both takeplace at Samsan World Gymnasium.Bahrain to signSerbian coachBy PATRICK SALOMONhere in Bahrain, and we know they haveBAHRAIN is set to signn Coach Nikitovic … new signing good knowledge in the game.”Ali said that Nikitovic was one of fiverespected Serbian basketballcoaches being considered by the BBA,coach Sasa Nikitovic aswith other coaches being considerednational team head followingcoming from the US and elsewhere.the sudden U-turn of Bahraini tacticianSalman Ramadhan, who wastask as Bahrain coach will be leadingNikitovic has coached Serbia’snational team at the youth level. His firstearlier expected to take the helm.them to a solid finish in the highly competitiveThis was confirmed last night by2013 Fiba Asia Championship,Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA)which will be held in the Philippinetechnical director and national teamscapital from August 1 to 11.manager Ahmed Ali.Bahrain have been drawn in groupNikitovic will now sign a new deal of‘D’ for the competition alongsideundisclosed length, and he will be guidingKazakhstan, Thailand and India.Bahrain in the upcoming Fiba AsiaBahrain qualified for the continentalChampionship in Manila, scheduled toshowcase with their runner-up finishtake place in August.in the GCC tiff. They represent the“We have sent coach Sasa our contractGulf alongside the Qataris and bronze-offer and we expect him to sign anymedallists Saudi Arabia.day now,” Ali told the GDN last night.Nikitovic will be yet another foreignRamadhan had earlier made a verbalnational taking over Bahrain’scommitment to signing with the BBAnational basketball team. Bahrainand returning as head coach of thewas guided to last season's GCC silverkingdom’s national team, but in a suddenmedal by Lithuanian tacticianand unexpected move, the veteranMindaugas Zukauskas, and before thatBahraini coach signed with Kazma Club turn down the national team at first, but “We have also asked around with our had American Erik Rashad in charge.of Kuwait instead.in the end, he thought about it and chose contacts in Serbian basketball, and they Nikitovic will be joining Bahrain's“We believe it was a case of him to stay in Kuwait.all spoke very highly of him. He has national team along with assistant coacheshaving multiple offers on the table and “We have found a replacement in plenty of experience in his country at all Hussain Qaheri and Hassan Makki, bothtaking the one he felt was best for him,” coach Sasa, and we have been very levels of basketball. We ourselves know of whom were originally set to assistAli said. “I’m sure he did not want to impressed with his CV.a few Serbian coaches who have coached Ramadhan but will now stay on.Youngsters attend orientation sessionBAHRAIN’S 22 best youngfootballers got their firsttaste of professional footballtraining with an orientationsession organied by VIVA.The event gives them a kick startinto their week-long trip to thehome of football, where they willbe trained under the supervisionof Manchester United coaches nextweek.The orientation session was conductedby football veteran HamadMohammed, and it focused on players’basic soccer skills, attributes andteam building exercises which is verysimilar to what the players wouldexperience at the Manchester UnitedSoccer Schools in the UK.The young footballers will undergoa week-long camp and learn thesecrets of professional football fromthe club that boasts extraordinarylegends like Denis Law and GeorgeBest, and play where the legendsn Youngsters duringtheir orientation sessionhave played in Carrington.For more information on the programme,visit viva.com.bh.n Sailors arrive forAl Bareh regattaTEAMS from across the MiddleEast started arriving in Bahrainyesterday ahead of the 20th AlBareh International Regatta 2013,which gets underway today atthe Bahrain Maritime SportsAssociation premises near AlJazayer Beach in Zallaq.Fourteen squads in total, comingfrom 12 countries, are set tosail their boats in four differentclasses during the four-day event.The participating sailors arecoming from Kuwait, Qatar, theUAE, Oman, Tunisia, Morocco,Algeria, Egypt, India, Pakistan andKazakhstan.Adding excitement to this year’sevent, sailors from Monaco andIndonesia are scheduled to maketheir debut along with Palestine›slone representative Iman AbuYousif, who received a specialinvitation to take part.They will be competing for gloryin four classes – Laser Radial,Laser Standard, Laser 4.7 and theOptimist, a category that is openfor young sailors.Today’s programme begins at 9amwith the general meeting of theparticipating teams at the racingvenue, where chief judge LucaBabini of Italy will be addressingthe sailors on the races route andthe competition rules.Babini is among a professionaljury that will run the races thisyear, which marks the 20th editionof the international championship.The Bahrain team, meanwhile,will head into this year’s challengemissing two of their finestmembers – Abdulrahim Abdullaand Abdulla Janahi, both takingpart in the Olympic ChampionProgramme being held in Europe.According to team coachKasem Ben Jemia, they are alsogearing up for this year’s WorldChampionship which will be heldin Muscat in November.n Geant score fine winGEANT defeated GCC SportsClub 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 19-25,25-21) in the Geant KCA Indo-Bahrain Volleyball Tournament,currently being played at theKerala Catholic Association(KCA) premises.Eight teams are competing in theevent. They have been dividedinto two pools to play leaguematches in the first round. Thetop two teams from each groupthen move on to the semi-finals.Teams must be made up ofboth Bahraini nationals andexpatriates.Tournament action continuestoday with the BahrainVolleyball Spikers taking onKCA Synergy.n Muharraq face ManamaDEFENDING champions Muharraqwill be fighting for their basketballlives tonight when they take onManama in both teams’ concludingGolden Square game in the ZainBahrain Basketball League.The game is scheduled for an 8pmtip-off. Prior to the contest, AlAhli and Al Hala face off at 6pm.Heading into tonight’s action,Manama hold a 4-1 win-lossrecord, while Muharraq and AlAhli both own identical 3-2 mark.Hala are winless after four gamesand are bottom of the GoldenSquare standings on a 0-4 record.Only the top two teams after thisevening’s action move on to thebest-of-five championship series.According to the BahrainBasketball Association (BBA), acomplicated tie-break system willcome into play should any teamsfinish with similar records.