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BAHRAIN 11, the inaugural GCC Games, started with a fanfare of sport this week and a thrilling home victory for the national handball side at the opening event, writes Mai Al Khatib.
Spectactors cheered, drummed and chanted with amazing exuberance at the Shaikh Khalifa Sports City in Isa Town on Monday afternoon to kick-start the sporting festival in style.
The fixture between Bahrain and Kuwait lived up to all expectations with end-to-end action and a narrow 30-24 victory for the mighty men in red.
Captain Saeed Jawhar led from the front with an impressive display of passion and power and was on the score-sheet with Mahdi Saad, Hussain Al Sayyad, Mahdi Madan and Jaafar Abdul Qader.
Bahrain’s delighted coach Adil Juma Sabba said: “This was a positive opening result for us. Just because we won does not mean that we can stop improving – our defence made some mistakes today which we will study and act upon.”
Kuwait were full of praise for their opponents and their coach, Bahraini Nabil Taha, said the team would learn from the experience.
The Games’s opening ceremony took place yesterday at the National Stadium. The event runs until October 22 and will boast more than 1,500 athletes from across the Gulf competing in 10 disciplines. The organisers say Bahrain 11 will be the largest showcase of GCC talent ever assembled.
