From 15-24 June the 7th AHF Men’s and Women’s Asian Beach Handball Championship is being held at the Tianmu Resort Village in Zhang Jiachan Town, Weihai City, Shandong Province, China.

The women’s competition, which starts on Wednesday 19 June, sees six teams in one group competing for glory in a round-robin format: China (CHN), Thailand (THA), Vietnam (VIE), Chinese Taipei (TPE), Hong Kong (HKG) and Japan (JPN).

The men’s competition, which starts today, is split into two preliminary groups of six teams each with the top two in each going directly through to the semi-final stage and the rest fighting it out for 5-12 place.

Preliminary Group A features Qatar (QAT), Vietnam (VIE), Chinese Taipei (TPE), Afghanistan (AFG), Indonesia (INA) and Philippines (PHI).

Preliminary Group B includes Oman (OMA), Iran (IRI), Thailand (THA), Pakistan (PAK), Japan (JPN) and Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The previous edition of the championships were held in Thailand, back in May 2017, with Qatar defeating Oman in the men’s final to take gold and the hosts beating Vietnam in the women’s gold medal match to win the continental honours.

The strong Qatar men’s beach handball team prepared in Thailand at a training camp ahead of the championship facing local club teams and the Thai national team and are the team to beat, while Chinese Taipei and Vietnam can pose a threat to title-holders Thailand in the women’s competition.

Philippines men’s national team coach Jana Franquelli revealed before the championship that it will act as a guide for the upcoming South East Asian Games (SEA Games), to be held in her country later this year.

“It’s good that we’ll be able to see these teams in the Asian Championship,” said Franquelli to local media. “That’s one of the reasons why we joined the tournament because we’ll see our opponents in the SEA Games.

“Of course, they’ll see our team too. But for us, we’re relatively a new team so definitely, we can still improve as far as plays and roster - importantly for us is the exposure we’ll get, which I think will even strengthen our team going to the SEA Games.”

“It’s going to be exciting for us to see the national team see action in this tournament and if there is a need to adjust, we have a good five months to make the changes necessary to improve the team in time for the SEA Games, where we hope to get a medal.”

Pakistan Handball Federation’s (PHF) president Mohammad Shafiq is also hoping for a strong performance from his side. “The team is in good form, but competition is very tough in Group B as Iran and Oman are strong and they ranked eighth and tenth in the last world championship,” he said.

The championships in China serve as a qualifier for both the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in Qatar and the 2020 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball Championships to be held in Italy.

The top two teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions will receive a direct ticket to Italy.

IHF Beach Handball Working Group member and IHF Lecturer Burak Tezcan (TUR) was part of a number of pre-event meetings and training sessions involving the AHF technical delegates, referees and team representatives including the technical meeting where the registrations of all players are confirmed.

10:00 TPE vs AFG

10:45 THA vs PAK

15:00 VIE vs IND

15:45 IRI vs JPN

16:30 QAT vs PHI

17:15 OMA vs KSA

15:00 IND vs QAT

15:00 IRI vs THA

15:45 VIE vs TPE

15:45 AFG vs PHI

16:30 JPN vs OMA

15:00 QAT vs AFG

15:00 OMA vs PAK

15:45 TPE vs IND

15:45 PHI vs VIE

16:30 KSA vs IRI

17:15 THA vs JPN

10:00 IND vs PHI

10:45 JPN vs KSA

11:30 AFG vs VIE

15:00 THA vs OMA

15:45 TPE vs QAT

16:30 PAK vs IRI

15:00 VIE vs TPE

15:45 THA vs HKG

16:30 CHN vs JPN

10:00 AFG vs IND

10:45 KSA vs THA

11:30 PHI vs TPE

15:00 PAK vs JPN

15:45 QAT vs VIE

16:30 OMA vs IRI

15:00 THA vs VIE

15:45 HKG vs CHN

16:30 TPE vs JPN

5-12 Placement Round

10:00 5A vs 6B

10:45 5B vs 6A

11:30 3A vs 4B

15:00 3B vs 4A

15:45 Semi-Final 1A vs 2B

16:30 Semi-Final 1B vs 2A

15:00 CHN vs TPE

15:45 JPN vs THA

16:30 VIE vs HKG

10:00 11/12 Placement Match

10:45 9/10 Placement Match

11:30 7/8 Placement Match

15:00 5/6 Placement Match

15:45 HKG vs JPN

16:30 VIE vs CHN

17:15 TPE vs THA

16:30 Bronze Medal Match

18:00 Gold Medal Match/Final

15:00 JPN vs VIE

15:45 TPE vs HKG

17:15 CHN vs THA

For photos and results check the Asian Handball Federation Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/AHFKuwait

For more information about the championship, see HERE.

Photos: Asian Handball Federation