The
8th AHF Asian Men’s Youth Championship got underway in Amman, Jordan yesterday,
with 14 teams looking for continental honours over the 10-day championship
(16-26 September).
Alongside
hosts Jordan (JOR), Bahrain (BRN), Saudi Arabia (KSA), China (CHN), Oman (OMA),
Chinese Taipei (TPE), Syria (SYR), Korea (KOR), Iraq (IRQ), India (IND), Japan
(JPN), Qatar (QAT), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and The Islamic Republic of Iran
(IRI) will all be hoping that they can show their best and grab one of the three available places for the
2019 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship – which will be held in FYR Macedonia –
on offer in Jordan.
Starting
back in Bangkok, Thailand in 2005, the AHF Asian Men’s Youth Championship has
been held in Iran (Tehran – 2006), Jordan (Amman – 2008), United Arab Emirates
(Abu Dhabi – 2010), Bahrain (Manama – 2012), Jordan (Amman – 2014) and Bahrain
(Manama – 2016).
The
preliminary round of the 2018 edition will see all games played at the Princess
Sumaya Hall and features four groups, with the top two in each going through to
the main round and third place onwards going into the 9-14 placement round.
After
beating Japan at home in the 2016 final, Bahrain will be looking to defend
their title but face stiff competition and, following the first day of games,
they have started as they mean to go on, beating Oman 33:17 but know the threat
from Korea and Qatar particularly will be the strongest with both teams already
winning their opening games (Korea vs India 45:30 and Qatar vs UAE 35:31). 2016
silver medallists Japan lost to Iran 29:28.
The
preliminary groups are:
Group
A: BRN, KSA, CHN, OMA
Group
B: JOR, TPE, SYR
Group
C: KOR, IRQ, IND
Group
D: JPN, QAT, UAE, IRI
RESULTS
Sunday
16 September
IRI
vs JPN 29:28 (17:15)
IND vs KOR 30:45 (11:22)
CHN vs KSA 22:35 (8:19)
OMA vs BRN 17:33 (9:17)
SYR vs JOR 26:29 (10:13)
UAE
vs QAT 31:35 (17:17)
SCHEDULE
Monday
17 September
10:00
IRQ vs IND
11:45
CHN vs BRN
13:30
OMA vs KSA
15:15
IRI vs QAT
17:00
TPE vs SYR
18:45
UAE vs JPN
Tuesday
18 September
10:00
CHN vs OMA
11:45
BRN vs KSA
13:30
KOR vs IRQ
15:15
UAE vs IRI
17:00
JOR vs TPE
18:45
JPN vs QAT
Wednesday
19 September
Rest Day
Thursday
20 September – Saturday 22 September
Main Round and 9-14 Placement
Matches
Sunday
23 September
Rest Day
Monday
24 September
Semi-Finals, 5-6, 7-8, 9-14 Placement
Matches
Tuesday
25 September
Rest Day
Wednesday
26 September
Medal and 9-14 Placement
Matches