LOC12:39
09:39 GMT
KUWAIT, Jan 28 (KUNA) -- Bahrain's handball team and its Qatari counterpart will face off in the 22nd Asian Handball Championship final match on Thursday, January 29 in Kuwait.
The finals will be held at the Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Sports Complex, as Kuwait National Handball team will play against Japan for the 3rd place ahead of the final match.
The Bahraini squad reached the final of the tournament after winning the preliminary rounds against Jordan (32-21), China (40-29), and Iraq (34-18).
They then went on to win the main rounds against the UAE (32-20) and Qatar (31-28) before losing to the Saudi team (23-21). However, they still managed to secure passage to the semi-finals.
Bahrain faced their Japanese counterparts in the semi-finals, which began on January 15th, and managed to defeat them (35-25) to reach the final, a stage they have never reached before. They have achieved second place five times and third place twice throughout their history of participation.
As for the Qatari national team's journey in the tournament (the six-time cup champion), they won the preliminary rounds against Oman (27-15) and lost to South Korea (32-30) to qualify for the main rounds, which they started with a win against Saudi Arabia (24-21), followed by a loss to Bahrain (31-28), before returning to achieve a win against the UAE (25-20) to qualify in first place from their group.
Yesterday, in the semi-finals, Qatar faced the host nation, Kuwait, and managed to defeat them (27-26), reaching their seventh consecutive final, having won the previous six in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. They also finished second place twice and third twice throughout their participation in the Asian Cup.
On his part, the Kuwaiti team won the third place of the Asian tournament four times in its history, in 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1989.
These final four teams will be representing Asia in the upcoming world cup 2027 in Germany. (end)
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