Historically, South Korea wins this tournament and every other country is battling for 2nd place. This year might be a little different, however, as Japan surprised the Koreans 29-28 in the opening match. Host Kazakhstan also won easily over Qatar 44-14. All is not lost for the Koreans as Kazakhstan should be favored to beat Japan on Monday. Assuming Kazakhstan does beat Japan, Korea will be able to force a 3 way tie with a victory over Kazakhstan on Wednesday. In the event of a 3 way tie goal differential amongst their 3 head to head games will be the first tie-breaker.
Current Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD
Kazakhstan 1 0 0 2 44 14 +30
Japan 1 0 0 2 29 28 +1
South Korea 0 0 1 0 28 29 -1
Qatar 0 0 1 0 14 44 -30
Pre-tournament article on tournament from Kazakhstan: http://www.stockhouse.com/mediascan/news.asp?newsid=9015360
Tournament schedule: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=209&idart=832