The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) have confirmed the seven teams
who will compete for honours in the 7th AHF Women’s Youth Asian
Championship, set to take place in Jakarta, Indonesia from 20-28 August and
featuring players aged 18 or under (U18).
Alongside hosts Indonesia will be China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and
Hong Kong, but all eyes will be on Korea – who have won all
previous six titles and Japan, who have finished runners-up six times.
After its debut in 2005, and running every two years since, the championship
was originally a round-robin format, however, in 2015 it moved to two
preliminary groups, followed by a knock-out round.
The winners of the 2017
edition, along with the silver and bronze medallists, will qualify through to
the 2018 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, to be held in Poland.
Beginnings
The 1st AHF Women’s Youth Asian Championship took place from 26 June to 2 July 2005 at
the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand at the same time as the first Asian
Men’s Youth (U19) championship.
Five women’s teams took part with Korea winning the inaugural championship after
gaining four wins from four matches, Japan finishing second (three wins, 1
loss), Thailand in third, Chinese Taipei in fourth and India last, losing all
four of their games. The top three teams qualified through to the first-ever
IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, which was held in Canada in 2006.
2007 saw the second edition held at the Ban Chao Gymnasium in
Chinese Taipei (23-28 July) with Korea again winning all their games to take
the title, followed by runners-up Japan and then Chinese Taipei in third. Hong
Kong and Qatar, who lost all of four of their games, finished in fourth and
fifth respectively. Again, the top three went through to the world
championships, this time, held in Slovakia (2008).
Korean dominance
continues
A place in the world championships in Dominica (2010) was the goal
of the teams at the Prince Faisal Court in Amman, Jordan (4-9 July) and it was
the same story again, as Korea took the honours, beating Japan into second
place, although their tight 33:32 victory was as close as the Japanese had come
before. Kazakhstan finished third, Thailand fourth and the hosts fifth.
In 2011 Korea and Japan again finished first and second as the South
Koreans took their fourth consecutive title, easily beating Japan 27:20 in
their final game in Yamaga, Kumamoto, Japan.
At the end of the tournament, which took place from 23-28 September,
Kazakhstan finished third for the second championship running with Iran in
fourth and Qatar in fifth. The top three qualified through to the IHF Women’s Youth
World Championship, held the following year (2012) in Montenegro.
Expanded competition,
same results
Bangkok, Thailand hosted the championship for the second time as the
Indoor Stadium Huamark, from 7-15 September 2013, was the venue for an expanded
competition – featuring an additional two teams – with seven teams in
total.
Despite the changes it was a familiar story as Korea, again, won the
title with Japan finishing in the runners-up spot, further away than ever,
losing their clash 39:29. Kazakhstan finished third resulting in the same top
three, for three years running (2009, 2011, 2013). Uzbekistan finished fourth,
China fifth, the hosts Thailand in sixth and Iran last, in seventh. The top
three qualified for the 2014 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship in FYR
Macedonia.
Seven teams again competed for the title in the most recent edition,
held in New Delhi, India from 27 August to 3 September 2015,
but it was the same top two as Korea and Japan, along with China in third,
qualified through to the 2016 world championships in Slovakia.
The tournament format was updated to feature two preliminary groups
for the first time, with the top two qualifying into the semi-finals. Korea
eventually beat Japan in the final 27:22, while China beat Kazakhstan 32:25 in
the bronze medal match. Uzbekistan finished fifth, Chinese Taipei in sixth, and
the hosts in last spot.
For more information visit www.asianhandball.org.