The finalists of the 16th edition of the Asian Men’s Championship are confirmed – and definitely one team will win their first ever continental men’s title: Host Bahrain and 2015 World Championship host Qatar - both still unbeaten - have reached the match for gold, which will be played on Thursday (6 February, 19:00 local time) in the Bahrain capital of Manama.
While Bahrain had no problems in beating United Arab Emirates in their semi by 27:20 (15:8), the clearly favoured team of Qatar was close to their first defeat at this tournament, but finally the team of Spanish world champions’ coach Valero Rivera gained the upper hand by a highly thrilling 23:22 (12:11) against Iran on Tuesday (4 February). Iran will now compete with United Arab Emirates for the bronze medal on Thursday (17:00 local time) in the Khalifa Sports City Hall. All four semi-finalists had already booked their ticket for the 2015 World Championship before.
Both Bahrain and Qatar have once been Asian finalists before, Bahrain in 2010 and Qatar in 2012 – both were defeated by Korea.
The placement round will be completed already on Wednesday (5 February) after the first matches had been played on Tuesday. Defending and dethroned champions Korea will face Saudi Arabia for the 5/6 match, whereas Oman vs. Kuwait is the fixture for the 7/8 placement match.
Result summary:
Semi-finals:
Bahrain vs. United Arab Emirates 27:20 (15:8),
Qatar vs. Iran 23:22 (12:11)
Placement Round 9-12:
China vs. Iraq 25:30 (11:17)
Japan vs. Uzbekistan 41:12 (18:7)
Placement Round 5-8:
Korea vs. Oman 32:17 (12:10)
Kuwait vs. Saudi Arabia 30:36 (18:16)
Placement matches on 5 February:
11/12: China vs. Uzbekistan
9/10: Japan vs. Iraq
7/8: Oman vs. Kuwait
5/6: Korea vs. Saudi Arabia
Medal matches on 6 February:
Bronze final:
United Arab Emirates vs. Iran
Final:
Bahrain vs. Qatar