South Korea, Qatar stay undefeated in Asian handball

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Powerhouses South Korea and Qatar both won their preliminary round groups last night in the 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship, currently being held in Bahrain.

The South Koreans, who have the most titles in the history of the tournament with nine, battled past Iran 26-24 to claim first place in Group B.

Qatar, meanwhile, aiming for a record sixth successive Asian men’s crown, defeated Gulf rivals Kuwait 24-20 to top Group A.

Both teams already secured their places in the ensuing main stage heading into yesterday’s ties.

The South Koreans will be in Group Two of the next phase alongside hosts Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait.

The Qataris are to play in Group One with Japan, Iran, and the UAE. The bottom two squads from each of the four pools in the preliminaries will compete for the Martyr Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah Cup.

Today is a rest day and the games in both the main round and the cup competition are scheduled to begin tomorrow.

In South Korea’s win last night, they had to fight back from a narrow second-half deficit and hold on in the end for the tight victory.

The Iranians led 13-10 at the interval. South Korea’s Yeonbin Kim was named the Best Player of the Game, having top scored for the victors with an impressive nine goals.

They finished atop Group B with an undefeated record. Meanwhile, Qatar led 14-8 at the half against Kuwait and did enough to close things out in the second half.

Anadin Suljakovic was their top performer as they finished unbeaten in Group A.

In other matches yesterday which had no bearing on the main round, Chinese Taipei defeated Oman 33-27, with Chao Hsien-Chang being named the Best Player of the Game; and China routed New Zealand 36-13, as Wenxuan Zhao Best was selected the man of the match.