Japan has won the 10th Asian Women’s Youth Handball Championship. They also become the first team to defeat Republic of Korea in a match of the competition, as Republic of Korea has never lost a single match at the competition that started back in 2005. Japan defeated the Republic of Korea in the final match by a score of 24–23.
Eleven nations were scheduled to take part in the competition held at the Noida Indoor Stadium in the Noida city of Uttar Pradesh province of India from July 15 – 24, 2023, but Pakistan and Uzbekistan withdrew from the competition a few days before its start due to unavoidable circumstances, which ultimately reduced the teams to nine.
The participating teams were divided into two preliminary groups as follows:
Group A: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Republic of Korea, P. R. China, Nepal
Group B: India, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Bangladesh, Hong Kong (China), Pakistan
The Republic of Korea and P. R. China from Group A, and Japan and Chinese Taipei from Group B, advanced to the semi-finals. Kazakhstan, India, Hong Kong (China), and Nepal had to play in the 5th – 8th placement matches after they failed to progress to the semi-finals.
Bangladesh lost all of its matches in Group B, which has five teams, and was hence ranked ninth in accordance with the AHF Competition Regulations.
In the semi-finals, the Republic of Korea defeated Chinese Taipei by 42–22, whereas Japan defeated P.R. China by 34–22.
In the bronze medal match, P.R. China defeated Chinese Taipei by 28–14 after leading 15–5 at halftime. Xing Zi Yan scored 10 goals for P.R. China, whereas Wang Yu Ting scored 4 goals for Chinese Taipei in the match.
The gold medal match was full of excitement and drama. The Republic of Korea was leading the match 4–0 up until the 7th minute, when Japan scored their first goal of the match. Japan took the lead in the 13th minute when they continuously scored five goals without conceding a single one, making the score 5–4. Japan then continued to dominate in the first half and was leading by three goals at the halftime break, the score being 12–9.
The Koreans make a comeback with the start of the second half, equalising the score at 14–14 in the 38th minute. Korea was in a three-goal lead after the 50th minute with the score being 20–17, and everyone was thinking that the Koreans had taken control of the game, but then Japan made a comeback again, levelling the score at 20–20 in the 55th minute. After that, the Koreans were never able to take the lead in the match, and at last, Japan defeated the Republic of Korea by 24–23 and claimed their maiden title in the Asian Women’s Youth Handball Championship.
After this match, Japan became the first team to defeat the Republic of Korea in any edition of the Asian Women’s Youth Handball Championship, as the Koreans had been unbeaten in the competition since its inception in 2005.
Japan also became only the third team to win the Asian Women’s Youth Handball Championship after the Islamic Republic of Iran won the championship back in 2022 and the Republic of Korea, which continuously won the championship from its inception in 2005 to 2019. The Republic of Korea did not participate in the 2022 edition due to travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Final Ranking:
- Japan
- Republic of Korea
- P. R. China
- Chinese Taipei
- India
- Kazakhstan
- Hong Kong, China
- Nepal
- Bangladesh
All the details about the championship can be found here.
