Sports enthusiasts spoilt for choice Print E-mail
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Sports enthusiasts spoilt for choice
Rugby, golf, squash
Cricket and soccer
Basketball and watersports
Ice-skating and horse racing
Mind sports
Other activities


To get back to those two sports that my friend thought would be on offer in Bahrain, namely tennis and swimming, well, he was right! You can swim just about everywhere. There’s the sea, of course, and I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess as to the number of swimming pools on the island – it must run into the thousands.

Tennis courts are similarly ubiquitous and the game is played by so many people at so many places, it’s hard to know where to start. All resorts and sporting clubs offer tennis coaching and joining a tennis ladder is easy. Try the Tennis Federation on 17687236.

What else can you do in Bahrain? Gymnasia and fitness centres are to be found at health and sports clubs throughout the island and all the five-star hotels have gyms with resident instructors and trainers.

Ten pin bowling has seen an upsurge in popularity since the opening of the new 12-lane Bahrain Bowling Centre at the Seef complex. There’s a superb 18-lane bowling alley at the Funland Centre (in the same building as the ice rink) where a number of leagues play weekly fixtures – this is conveniently located for visitors staying in the Diplomatic Area or Juffair. You can also bowl at the Busheri Bowling Centre in Budaiya and at Al Bander Resort, and there’s short-lane ‘neon’ bowling at Magic Island in Seef Mall which is popular with kids.

All this is certainly more than enough to keep the average sports enthusiast extremely busy for several years – the only problem is that work tends to get rather annoyingly in the way.

Meanwhile, before I get back to my golf lessons, the roses need watering – the Bahrain Garden Club will be holding its 40th Annual Horticultural and Flower Show in March and I may be in with a chance! We’ve pretty much trained the dog not to dig everything up now.