As the Third Asian Youth Games – Bahrain 2025 approaches its final stages, yesterday witnessed a fierce competitive atmosphere in various sports venues, as 11 sports events were held distributed across a number of facilities in the Kingdom, amid an increasing public presence and wide follow-up from the participating Asian delegations.
Volleyball was at the forefront of the competitions on which the curtain came down, after witnessing Iranian domination in double gold medals in the male and female categories. In the youth category final, the Iranian team outperformed its Pakistani counterpart by 3 clean games, achieving a well-deserved victory that crowned it with gold in the tournament, while the Iranian female youth team snatched the second gold medal after a marathon confrontation against Indonesia that ended in a tiebreaker with a score of 3-2 in an exciting match that lasted for more than two hours.
At the same time, the youth cycling race competitions on the Nasser bin Hamad Cycling Track concluded with Hong Kong winning the gold medal after a strong and decisive performance in the final meters, ahead of Thailand, which won the silver medal, and Saudi Arabia, which won bronze, amid remarkable public encouragement.
The curtain also came down on the wrestling competitions hosted by the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, where the last day’s competitions witnessed high artistic levels in the categories of young men and women, amid strong competition from the Asian teams that presented distinguished fighting performances that won the approval of the attendees and followers.
Today’s competitions will witness a decisive conclusion for 11 different sports, as their champions are expected to be crowned with colorful medals in a festive atmosphere in preparation for the final day of the tournament, in the Umm Al Hassam halls. The tournament will host the youth handball final between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in a purely Gulf confrontation that is considered one of the most prominent matches of the awaited day, while the third place match will bring together Bahrain and China to determine the owner of the bronze medal. As for the young women, all eyes will be directed to the final match that will bring together China. India is in an exciting struggle for Asian gold.
In the Khalifa City Sports Hall, the final futsal match for the youth category will be held between Iran and Afghanistan, as Iran seeks to confirm its superiority in this sport after being crowned gold medalist in the youth category yesterday after defeating China on penalties with a score of 3-2 in a dramatic match that extended until the final moments.
The decisive day also witnesses the conclusion of many individual sports that sports fans on the continent have been waiting for, most notably badminton, boxing, electronic games, jiu-jitsu, judo, swimming, table tennis, and weightlifting, as the Asian champions will be on a date with the final podiums and collecting colorful medals in a busy and exciting day.
At the Khalifa Sports City Swimming Pool, the swimming competitions conclude their activities today with more final races that are expected to witness new numbers and intense competition between China, Japan and India for the top spot in the water medals.
At the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, the weightlifting competition is intense with wide participation in the final weights, in addition to holding the finals in table tennis and badminton, which reached their final rounds after days of strong competitions and close matches.
At the conclusion of the tournament programme, the last two competitions on the games schedule will begin today, namely beach wrestling and endurance racing, which represent a qualitative and distinctive addition to the Bahrain edition.
Beach wrestling will be held at Sama Bei starting at 11 am, and its competitions will conclude in the evening of the same day, with the participation of the most prominent Asian teams seeking to register their names in the record of the first champions of this new sport in the Asian tournaments.
As for the endurance race, it will start from the Bahrain International Endurance Village at 4 p.m., and includes individual and team races for a distance of 119 kilometers, with the participation of an elite group of young Asian riders who are preparing for a unique experience that combines high physical fitness and mental endurance in an ideal atmosphere for this sport.
China decides the summit
In terms of the medal table, China strengthened its absolute lead by achieving 122 colored medals, including 54 gold, 42 silver, and 26 bronze, thus clinching first place before the official conclusion of the tournament, while Uzbekistan maintained its runner-up position with 57 medals (24 gold), while Kazakhstan came close to clinching third place after raising its tally to 70 medals (18 gold).
Iran came in fourth place with a total of 54 medals, including 17 gold, ahead of Thailand, which ranked fifth with 40 medals, while the United Arab Emirates continued to lead the Arab scene by obtaining seventh place in the overall standings with 22 medals (9 gold), confirming its excellence in various games and its active participation in this edition.
