Sport in Bahrain

A variety of sports in Bahrain are popular and widespread. Association football is the most popular sport in the country.[1] Other traditionally-popular sports include basketball, volleyball and handball. Sports such as horse racing, and rugby union have gained popularity over the past few decades.

Football

Bahrain has its own top-tier domestic professional football league, the Bahraini Premier League. It features 10 football clubs that play a two round robin set, with each team playing a total of 18 fixtures.[2] The winners of the domestic championship qualify for the AFC Cup.

The league uses a promotion and relegation system with the Bahraini Classification League, Bahrain's second tier football league. The season usually starts in September and concludes in May, as in other football leagues. The first season was held in 1952. Although games are played on a home and away basis, almost all games are played at the Bahrain National Stadium.

The bottom placed club is relegated with the team finishing second bottom entering a relegation/promotion playoff match. The most successful club in the league's history is Al-Muharraq SC. The current reigning champion of the 2011-2012 football season is Riffa club.[3]

The Bahrain national football team playing Australia on June 10, 2009 in a World Cup qualifier
Club
 Number of Championships
Muharraq Club32
Bahrain Riffa Club (includes West Riffa)10
Bahrain Club5
Al-Ahli5
Arabi Club1
Al Hala1
Al-Nasr1
East Riffa Club1

Basketball

Bahrain has a professional basketball league, featuring 11 club teams. The top four teams of the league, at the end of the season, move on to the 'Golden Square', where the top seeds play the fourth seeds and the second take on the third in separate best-of-three series. The best-of-five championship series follows.

In addition to the league, a basketball cup, the Zain Bahrain Basketball Cup, is available where the top two teams at the end will then battle for the Cup in a[best-of-three finale. The winner of the cup will represent Bahrain in the Asian Clubs Basketball Championships.[4]

Both the league and cup is sponsored by Zain.[5]

The overall league champions will be given the chance of representing Bahrain in the Arab Club Basketball Championship, held in the following year.[6]

Rugby union

Rugby sevens and full rugby union are played in Bahrain, with the Bahrainis having their own national sevens team. Bahrain's Rugby Football Club was first founded in 1970, as a branch of the local British Club. It has its own rugby league.[7] Bahrain also has its own national sevens rugby team.

Cricket

Professional Cricket is governed by the Bahrain Cricket Association.[8] The sport is largely popular amongst South Asian expatriates in the country.[9] Bahrain has a national cricket team which first international appearance was at the ACC Trophy in 2004, where they failed to progress beyond the first round. They took part in the tournament again in August 2006, putting in a much better performance to finish in 6th place. Earlier in the year they won the ACC Middle East Cup, beating Afghanistan in the final.[10]

Bahrain’s debut in the ICC World Cricket League was in 2009 when they won the 2009 Global Division Seven tournament and hence advancing to Division Six.[11] They had another strong tournament in Division Six, coming runners up and gaining back to back promotions in the process. In 2010 they competed in Division Five in Nepal.[11] In November 2009 Bahrain played in the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup. They finished bottom of Group B, losing all five of their matches on the process. In the eleventh placed playoff Bahrain defeated China by 93 runs to finish the tournament in eleventh place.

The country also has its own cricket league, with 48 teams and over 750 cricketers playing in the Bahrain Cricket League.[12] The league was founded in 1981 under the name "Junior Cricket League" and initially had 4 teams. By 2010, this had risen to 46.[13]

Equestrianism

Horse racing in the Sakhir track

Equestrian sports are one of the most popular sports in the country.[14] Horse riding is governed by the Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (BREEF) which was founded in 2003, having replaced the previous governing body, the Bahrain Equestrian Association.[15] The BREEF is headquartered in the town of Awali, south of the capital Manama.[15] The first ever Endurance racing started on the 7th of October, 2004 with the grand event, of a distance of 120 km, being held on 7 December that year.[15] In 2005, the 'World Championship for Juniors and Young Riders' race was held in Bahrain, attracting international riders and attention.[15]

Bahrain has been a member of the International Equestrian Federation since 1985, a member of the Asian Equestrian Association since 1989 and a member of the Pan-Arab Equestrian Federation since 1990.[15]

The kingdom is home to multiple training stables.[16][17][18]

Show jumping

The official sport of show jumping has its origins in Bahrain dating back to 1976. The sport was first played by the modern pentathlon team of the Bahrain Defense Force.[15] In the year 1986, the Safria Team was established for representing the Kingdom of Bahrain in both the military and civil show jumping championships abroad.[15]

F1 and Motorsports

Main article: Bahrain Grand Prix
The podium ceremony of the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Motorsport is one of the most popular sports in Bahrain. Bahrain has a Formula One race-track, which hosted the inaugural Gulf Air Grand Prix on 4 April 2004, the first in an Arab country. This was followed by the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2005. Bahrain hosted the opening Grand Prix of the 2006 season on 12 March of that year. Both the above races were won by Fernando Alonso of Renault. The 2007 event took place on 13, 14 April and 15.[19]

The latest edition of the Bahrain Grand Prix was the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix, that occurred despite concerns of the safety of the teams and the ongoing protests in the country.[20] Sebastian Vettel won the race. The race's opponents described the decision to hold the race despite ongoing protests and violence[21] as one of the most controversial Grands Prix in the sport's sixty-year history.[22][23][24]

In 2006, Bahrain also hosted its inaugural Australian V8 Supercar event dubbed the "Desert 400". The V8s will return every November to the Sakhir circuit. The Bahrain International Circuit also features a full length drag strip where the Bahrain Drag Racing Club has organised invitational events featuring some of Europe's top drag racing teams to try to raise the profile of the sport in the Middle East.[25]

Olympics

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, runner Maryam Yusuf Jamal became Bahrain's first Olympic medalist when she won a bronze in the women's 1,500m race. Jamal is the first female athlete from a Persian Gulf nation to win an Olympic medal.[26]

References

  1. ↑ It's a goal!, Gulf Daily News. Retrieved on 15 June 2012
  2. ↑ Bahraini Premier League, Goalzz.com, retrieved on 15 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Riffa regains Bahrain Premier League crown, Gulf Daily News, retrieved on 15 June 2012.
  4. ↑ New Format for Basketball league. Gulf Daily News, dated 4 August 2009.
  5. ↑ Zain backs Bahrain Basketball League, Gulf Daily News. Dated 24 October 2010.
  6. ↑ 2012 Arabian Gulf Basketball Clubs Championship, Goalzz.com
  7. ↑ History. Bahrain Rugby Football Club, retrieved on 15 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Bahrain Cricket Association Official Website". Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Bahrain Cricket fansite". BahrainCricket. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  10. ↑ http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/97/97130.html
  11. 1 2 "Bahrain profile". Asian Cricket Council. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  12. ↑ "Bahrain Cricket League Official Website". BCL. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  13. ↑ "Bahrain Cricket League History". BCL. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  14. ↑ "Things to Do in Bahrain - Horse Riding". AsiaRooms.com. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "BREEF: History". Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  16. ↑ "Twin Palms Riding Centre". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  17. ↑ "Horseback riding in Bahrain". Horse-Riding.net. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  18. ↑ "Horse Riding". TimeOut Bahrain. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  19. ↑ "Bahrain International Circuit". Bahraingp.com.bh. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  20. ↑ Pleitgen, Frederik (18 April 2012). "Bahrain circuit boss: Race not a big risk". CNN Edition. CNN. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  21. ↑ "Press Release: FIA Formula One World Championship – Bahrain Grang Prix". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  22. ↑ Taylor, Jerome; Tremayne, David (21 April 2012). "Rage against the Formula One machine". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  23. ↑ "Clashes in Bahrain ahead of F1 race". Al Jazeera. Qatar Media Group. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  24. ↑ "Protests As Anger Over Bahrain F1 Race Grows". Sky News Online. News Corporation. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  25. ↑ "BIC: Drag Racing". Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  26. ↑ http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/13/232068.html
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