In the Kazakhstan capitol Almaty the regional Men’s and Women’s IHF Challenge Trophies of the Asian Handball Federation were played – and the host won both tournaments very clearly. The Kazakhstan women, participant at the last Olympics and World Championships, dominated their tournament with three clear victories: 42:27 against Uzbekistan, 35:15 against Turkmenistan and 62:2 (!) against Tajikistan. But the clearest result in this tournament was the 74:1 victory of Uzbekistan against Tajikistan. Kazakhstan met Uzbekistan in the final and took the trophy by a clear 47:33. Turkmenistan won the Bronze final thanks to a 36:3 against Tajikistan.

The same nations met in the men’s tournament – and the final ranking was identical. Kazakhstan won all three matches of the Preliminary Round (30:23 against Uzbekistan, 40:17 against Turkmenistan and 50:8 against Tajikistan). In the final Kazakhstan again beat Uzbekistan clearly and won the Challenge Trophy thanks to a 32:22. Turkmenistan beat Tajikistan in the Bronze final 44:24.

Aside, the women from Israel and Finland have won the tournaments of the EHF/IHF Challenge Trophy. The final match in Israel between Israel and Cyprus had to decide about the winner - and the host took both points and finished the tournament with three victories in three matches ahead of Cyprus (4 points), Armenia (2 points) and Malta (0). On 11 December 2010 in Aalborg, Denmark, and within the framework of Women's EHF EURO 2010, Israel will meet Finland in the official final. Finland, the winner of the second EHF/IHF Challenge Trophy tournament which took place in Estonia, tied against Moldova, but won the decisive matches against the host and Faroe Islands. These five points were enough for Finland to reach the final. Faroe Islands ranked second with four points ahead of Moldova (3) and Estonia (0).