SURABAYA, Indonesia, July 23: In the opening match of the Asian U-20 Championship's third group, held in Surabaya, Indonesia, the Kuwait youth volleyball team lost to Japan with a score of 0-3 (sets 12-25, 14-25, and 15-25). The tournament, which began yesterday, will run until July 31. In another match from the same group, Bangladesh edged out India with a 3-2 victory.

The team is set to face India in its second group match today at 9:00 am followed by a game against Bangladesh tomorrow at 7:00 am, marking the end of the preliminary round. To prepare for the Asian Championships, the team held an external training camp in Cairo, Egypt, where they played several friendly matches against the Egyptian junior national team, Shabab Al-Sharqiya Club, and Heliolido Club.

The delegation is led by Jassem Al-Failakawi, a member of the Air Force Federation's Board of Directors. It includes team director Abdulaziz Al-Failakawi, head coach Jassem Al-Tarrawah, assistant coach Osama Madkour, physiotherapist Moataz Ezzedine, and 14 players: Fawaz Al-Mishaal, Ali Dashti, Barak Al-Nasser, Faisal Al-Sarraj, Hamoud Al-Masoud, Ahmed Al-Hamdan, Abdulaziz Al-Enezi, Khaled Bouaraki, Abdulaziz Al-Hashemi, Ahmed Al-Mutairi, Rashid Abdulkarim, Rashid Al-Nuaimi, Mahdi Hassan, and Ahmed Sha.

Khaled El Anzi

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff