MANAMA, Jan 13: The primary goal of our national handball team is to secure a qualification ticket to the second "main" round, further advancing in the 21st Asian Handball Championship and aiming for success in the 2025 World Cup Qualifiers. The championship is taking place at the Khalifa Sports Hall in Manama, Bahrain, concluding on the 25th of this month. In the third round of the preliminary stage, the team will face the Chinese Taipei national team at 1:00 pm in Group A, alongside Qatar and Oman. Group B features Korea against New Zealand and Iran against China.

In the previous match, Kuwait achieved a hard-fought victory against Oman, with star player Mohammed Al-Hindal scoring the winning goal in the last 3 seconds, securing a 27-26 victory. Goalkeeper Hassan Safar was named the best player in the match. Kuwait and Qatar currently lead the group with two points, while Oman and Taipei are yet to score.

The team's performance fell short of expectations in the challenging match against Oman, with control and lead exchanging during the second half until Al-Hindal's decisive goal. Kuwait coach Saeed Hegazy strategically withheld some key players, including recent team additions Saad Al-Haidari and Fawaz Abdel-Hadi, allowing experienced players to rest.

The upcoming match against Chinese Taipei promises to be a tough challenge, considering Chinese Taipei’s  strong performance against Qatar, a title contender, where they lost by only 7 goals. Hegazy aims to secure an early settlement, build a comfortable lead, and address defensive shortcomings from the previous match.

In other results from the previous matches, Qatar defeated Chinese Taipei 33-26, Iran dominated New Zealand with a score of 40-13, and Korea secured a narrow victory against China with a score of 32-30.

As per the tournament format, the top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the quarter-finals. The eight teams will be divided into two groups for further competition, with the top two from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. All four teams will secure qualification for the 2025 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Croatia, Denmark, and Norway from January 14 to February 2 of next year.

Khaled El Anzi

Al-Seyassah/Arab  Times Staff