Republic of Korea won 9th Asian Men's Youth Handball Championship
31 August 2022
The Republic of Korea has won the 9th Asian Men’s Youth (U19) Handball Championship. Eleven nations competed for the title and five places at the World Championship in an event held at the following two venues across Bahrain:
- Sheikh Khalifa Sports City Hall, Isa Town
- Bahrain Handball Federation Hall, Manama
The eleven teams were divided into two preliminary groups as follows:
Group A: Bahrain, I.R. Iran, India, Republic of Korea, Uzbekistan
Group B: Japan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait
The Republic of Korea and I.R. Iran from Group A, and Saudi Arabia and Japan from Group B, advanced to the semi-finals. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Uzbekistan had to play in the 5th–8th placement matches after they failed to progress to the semi-finals. Iraq takes on India for the 9th–10th place match. The United Arab Emirates failed to win a single match in the preliminary group and ranked last in 11th place at the championship.
Iraq comfortably defeated India in the 9th–10th place match by 37–26. Qatar defeated Uzbekistan by 29–28 in the 7th–8th place match.
Bahrain defeated Kuwait in the 5th–6th place match by 27–21. With this win over Kuwait, Bahrain also sealed the last spot remaining for the World Championship.
The Republic of Korea defeated Japan 23–21 in the first semi-final. Son Min-gi (Korea) and Sora Yagyu (Japan) both scored five goals in the match.
The second semi-final was an interesting, close contest between I.R. Iran and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was leading by one goal at half time, the score being 15–14. The match was then tied at full time and the 1st extra time, the scores being 24–24 and 28–28, respectively. I.R. Iran defeated Saudi Arabia in the 2nd extra time by 33–32. Shayan Fereshteh Nezhad and Saber Haidari Ramesh, from I.R. Iran, scored 7 goals each in the match, whereas Sajjad Al-Fardan from Saudi Arabia scored 10 goals.
In the bronze medal match, Saudi Arabia defeated Japan by 26–25. This bronze medal is the first ever medal won by Saudi Arabia in the Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship.
In the gold medal match, the Republic of Korea defeated I.R. Iran by 26–22. This is the third time that the Republic of Korea has won the Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship. The Republic of Korea had previously won the title in both the inaugural 2005 and 2014 editions.
The Republic of Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Bahrain have qualified for the 10th IHF Men’s Youth (U19) Handball World Championship to be held in Croatia in July / August 2023.
Final Rankings:
- Republic of Korea*
- Islamic Republic of Iran*
- Saudi Arabia*
- Japan*
- Bahrain*
- Kuwait
- Qatar
- Uzbekistan
- Iraq
- India
- United Arab Emirates
(*) Qualifies for the 10th IHF Men’s Youth (U19) Handball World Championship to be held in Croatia in July / August 2023.
All the details about the championship can be found here.
