[html] The South Korean Women have defeated Japan 34-21 to directly qualify for the 2008 Olympics.  Japan will take part in one of the Olympic Qualification tournaments.  The exact composition for the 3 Olympic Qualification tournaments is TBD.  The IHF had swapped out the 2nd place African and Asian teams previously and there now is no 3rd place Asian team.  More background on the placement of teams is at http://teamhandballnews.com/page18.html

Korea Yonhap News Service Article:
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/01/29/27/0702000000AEN20080129007900315F.HTML

IHF Article: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1014

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[html] The IHF has officially announced that the Asian Olympic Qualification Replay will be only a two nation event between Japan and South Korea. Japan will host the winner take all matches at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo. The women will play on Tuesday, 29 January and the men will play the next day. The other nations that participated in the original tournament have indicated that they will not participate.
Meanwhile, the Japan Times reports, that the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) has notified the IHF that they may decide to appeal the IHF’s decision to hold the two team replay to the International Sports Arbitration Council. Additionally, unverified news group postings have indicated that the AHF Executive Council will be meeting on 27 January and may even decide to remove Japan and South Korea from the AHF.

IHF Notice: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1009Japan Times Article:http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/sp20080120a4.html

Commentary: Note to AHF: Be very careful what you wish for. Loudly complaining in the halls of your respective nations is one thing, but appealing to the neutral International Sports Arbitration Council is another thing entirely. Perhaps the AHF will ask for the Arbitration Council to only narrowly address the IHF”s right to interfere with AHF matters. But, if the Arbitration Council investigates the tournaments fully they could very well come to the same conclusions that the IHF did. This would simply publicize the controversy even more and who knows, maybe the IOC will decide to take some action. [/html]

The Romanian Handball Federation has agree to host the replay of both the Men’s and Women’s Asian Olympic Qualification tournaments. The tournaments are to be held from 28 January to 3 February. The Women will play in Bucharest and the Men will play in Oradea. Meanwhile, the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) Executive Committee met on Saturday and reportedly rejected the IHF’s request to reschedule the tournament, apparently maintaining that there were no problems with the original tournaments. There has, as yet, been no official press release from the IHF regarding this apparent stand-off.

At the center of the controversy is AHF President, Kuwait Shiekh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. In addition to his AHF Presidency he is also the President of the Asian Olympic overarching body, the Olympic Council of Asia and is one of the 115 members of the IOC.

Wikipedia article on Shiekh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Al-Fahad_Al-Ahmed_Al-Sabah

Sport.ro article: http://www.sport.ro/stiri/23826/Sporturi/Handbal/Asia-se-muta-in-Romania-meciurile-de-handbal-din-Cupa-Asiei-se-joaca-la-Oradea-si-Bucuresti.html

Korea Times: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/01/136_16759.html

Yonhap News: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Features/2008/01/08/64/0801000000AEN20080108002800315F.HTML

According to Sport.ro http://www.sport.ro/stiri/23701/Sporturi/Handbal/EXCLUSIV-Romania-va-organiza-campionatul-Asiei-la-handbal.html , the IHF has requested that Romania host the Asian Olympic Qualification Replay.

Translation of article (courtesy of Bogdan Pasat):

A year after joining the EU, Romania is "moving" to Asia . Romania will host the Asian Team Handball Championship, that is.

Romania better than Mother Teresa or the Pope: chosen to squelch the biggest scandal in the world of team handball.

Romania received a fax from the IHF, requesting them country to host the Asian team handball qualification tournaments for the Olympic Games – tournaments which, as you may recall, were hosted last year but now must be replayed due to accusations of corruption.

Kazakhstan, on the women's side and Kuwait on the men's side were the tournament winners last year, upsetting the odds-on favorites – the South Koreans – who subsequently protested the tournament. The Koreans brought forth evidence – in the form of game recordings – which showed the game officials favoring the home teams. Accused of covering up a potential corruption conspiracy, the IHF was forced to take an unprecedented decision: replay both pre-Olympic tournaments.

Romania was the lone country to receive the fax from the IHF requesting them to host the new tournaments both for men and women. These tournaments will take place during the last week of January (2008) and will be hosted in two Romanian cities. Hosting expenses will be paid for by the IHF.

The Romanian Handball Federation will use the Administrative Council meeting scheduled for this coming Monday (January 7, 2007) to decide on whether it will accept or deny the offer to host the tournaments.

The Japanese Handball Federation has issued a press release containing copies of letters the IHF has sent to the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) and to the member nations involved in the original tournaments (South Korea, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Kazakhstan. In the letter, dated 21 December, the IHF requests that the AHF propose a venue and dates for the subject tournament. Additionally, it’s noted that both tournaments could be staged simultaneously and that “maybe China would be a suitable option.“

Japanese Federation Press Release: http://www.handball.jp/jha/press/2007/beijing_qualification_replay02.pdf

A Korean news report addressing the South Korea – Kuwait Olympic Qualification match has been posted at Google videos. The video is 17 minutes long and includes English language subtitles. In detail, the news report chronicles the events surrounding the controversy and clearly highlights numerous, serious officiating errors. Other highlights of the video include some non-verbal communication between a table official (presumably Kuwaiti) and the Korean bench, the on court intervention of the IHF, and Japanese fan reaction. Additionally, there is some discussion and footage of the Women’s Olympic Qualification matches in Kazakhstan. The Koreans were also concerned with the fairness of this officiating, but apparently it is not quite as obvious as the Men’s competition. Still, it is worth noting that while the Japanese Women have improved, their upset victory over Korea was a major surprise and was also their first victory over Korea in 31 years.

[b]Commentary:[/b] At best, the officiating errors highlighted in the Korea – Kuwait video are the result of inexperienced officiating. At worst, they are simply the deliberate intention of the officials to favor the Kuwaiti team. I haven’t seen the match in its entirety, so it’s theoretically possible the Korean report simply highlights the biggest mistakes of the officiating crew and leaves out all the errors that took place in favor of Korea. But there are 3 elements concerning the match that suggest that a review of the entire match would simply turn up more of the same transgressions. Those 3 elements are:

1) The decision by the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) to replace the neutral and experienced German officiating crew with the inexperienced Jordanian officials is all by itself, controversial and has never been explained or justified.
2) The on court intervention of the IHF representative, Alexander Kozhukov, is highly unusual and speaks volumes as to what was transpiring.
3) The negative and vocal reaction of Japanese fans was highly unusual for a couple of reasons. First, Japanese fans are normally pretty reserved and secondly, due to Japan’s long occupation of Korea the two nations have a historical rivalry, and it is surprising that they would intercede on Korea’s behalf.

Viewers will need to make up their own mind, but quite frankly I can’t see how anyone can come to any other conclusion than that the match was not fairly officiated.

Video: Korean News Report (with English subtitles): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-908556008345758262

My colleague, Christian Ciemalla at Handball-World reports on what in my opinion could end up being the most significant Handball related news story ever. The possibility that the Asian Handball Federation and by extension the International Handball Federation may fess up to a fixed match and actually replay it is unprecedented. As a child, I remember playing “do-overs” at recess for controversial calls, but I don’t recall it ever happening in organized competition. Stay tuned for further developments and don’t be surprised if you start seeing more on this story in non handball related news outlets.

Handball-World Article: http://www.handball-welt.de/o.red.c/news.php?GID=1&auswahl=11833

This editorial from the Korean Times revisits many of the previous accusations and calls for Asian Handball Federation (AHF) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah to resign his post of 25 years.

Korean Times Editorial: "Shame on Kuwait!"
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2007/09/137_9756.html

The Korean Times reports that the Korean and Japanese Handball Federations will jointly protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the IHF (International Handball Federation). The move to protest to the IOC in addition to the IHF is significant as well as the two nations agreeing to jointly protest. Additionally, the Times further reports that the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) snubbed an official document from the IHF, which asked the AHF to have the Kuwait – South Korea match to be officiated by German referees to fend off possible misjudgments

Korean Times Article: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/09/136_9793.html

As expected Kuwait beat Qatar (29-23) to finish the tournament undefeated. As the tournament winner they have also secured Asia’s automatic qualification spot for the 2008 Olympic Games. In the battle for 2nd place South Korea defeated hosts Japan (30-25) to earn a spot in a pre-olympic qualification tournament next spring. Currently they are slated to play in a qualifier that will be hosted by France with Croatia and the 3rd place African nation also participating.

The controversy surrounding South Korea’s opening round match loss to Kuwait continues to linger. This article from the Korean newspaper Chosun contains photos from the Korean protest outside the Kuwaiti Embassy in Seoul and indicates that the Koreans will formally protest to the AHF and IHF. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200709/200709040027.html

Commentary: Without having seen the match it’s difficult to definitively state whether referee bias decided the outcome of the match. Still the circumstances surrounding the match are suspicious. Why did a Jordanian pair officiate a pivotal match when an experienced German pair is available? Why does an IHF representative have to "warn" the officials in the middle of a match? That’s not a routine event. It will be interesting to see how the IHF responds to the Korean letter and would definitely be interesting to see a tape of the suspect match. I’m guessing that it would make the officiating of the Germany – France World Championship final seem relatively uncontroversial.

[b]Match Results[/b]
Kuwait – South Korea 28-20
Japan – UAE 33 – 28
Qatar – UAE 33 – 28
South Korea – Qatar 35 – 14
Japan – Kuwait 27 – 29
UAE – Kuwait 26 – 37
Japan – Qatar 36 – 25
South Korea – UAE 35 – 25
Kuwait – Qatar 29 – 23
South Korea – Japan 30 -25

[b]Final Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kuwait 4 0 0 8 123 96 +27
South Korea 3 0 1 6 120 92 +28
Japan 2 0 2 4 121 112 +9
Qatar 1 0 3 2 95 128 -33
UAE 0 0 4 0 107 138 -31

Match Reports: http://www.handball.jp/games/2007/toyota_yosen/daily-n.html

Updated 2008 Men’s Olympic Qualification Status: http://teamhandballnews.com/page17.html

Kuwait solidified its 1st place status at the Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification by beating host Japan 29-27, while South Korea bounced back from their opening round loss to Kuwait with an easy 35-14 victory over Qatar. But, in all likelihood the Koreans will have to be resigned to no better than 2nd place as Kuwait’s remaining games are against Qatar and winless UAE.

The controversy from the opening round game against Kuwait is getting significant media play in Japan and South Korea. The Hankyoreh Newspaper in South Korea reported multiple allegations against the IHF, Asian Handball Federation, and the Jordanians who refereed the South Korea – Kuwait match. The article notes the following:
1) Japanese fans protested the referee and the match had to be stopped due to bottles being thrown on the floor. (Note: Japan and South Korea are huge rivals, stemming from Japan’s occupation of Korea and for Japanese fans to protest to that extent on behalf of the Koreans is almost a story in itself)
2) German refs were supposed to have officiated the subject match, but were replaced at the last moment by the Jordanian pair.
3) A Russian IHF spokesman “warned” the referees during the match
4) That the IHF has favored Kuwait due to Kuwait’s support in helping Hassan Moustaffa become IHF president
5) That Kuwait has undue control over the AHF due to its “oil money”
6) That 100 members of the Korean Handball Federation plan to protest at the Kuwaiti Embassy in Seoul on Monday, 3 September.

Note: the article mistakenly notes that a Kuwaiti Prince is President of the IHF. Instead, they are likely referring to Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah who is President of the AHF.

Hankyoreh article: http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/233487.html

[b]Match Results[/b]
Kuwait – South Korea 28-20
Japan – UAE 33 – 28
Qatar – UAE 33 – 28
South Korea – Qatar 35 – 14
Japan – Kuwait 27 -29

[b]Current Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kuwait 2 0 0 4 57 47 10 +10
South Korea 1 0 1 2 55 42 +13
Japan 1 0 1 2 60 57 3
Qatar 1 0 1 2 47 63 -16
UAE 0 0 2 0 56 66 -10

[b]Remaining Matches[/b]
4 September
UAE – Kuwait

5 September
Japan – Qatar
South Korea – UAE

6 September
Kuwait – Qatar
South Korea – Japan

Match Reports: http://www.handball.jp/games/2007/toyota_yosen/daily-n.html

The Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification tournament is underway in Toyota, Japan. Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates will be competing in a straight round robin from 1-6 September. Three matches have been played so far and Kuwait, Japan and Qatar are all tied for 1st place with 1-0-0 records. Notably, Kuwait held all time Bundesliga leading goal scorer Kyung-Shin Yoon to 1 goal on 10 shots in their 28-20 opening round victory.

Kuwait – South Korea 28-20
Japan – UAE 33 -28
Qatar – UAE 33 -28

[b]Current Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kuwait 1 0 0 2 28 20 +8
Japan 1 0 0 2 33 28 +5
Qatar 1 0 0 2 33 28 +5
South Korea 0 0 1 0 20 28 -8
UAE 0 0 2 0 56 66 -10

[b]Remaining Matches[/b]
3 September
South Korea – Qatar
Japan – Kuwait

4 September
UAE – Kuwait

5 September
Japan – Qatar
South Korea – UAE

6 September
Kuwait – Qatar
South Korea – Japan

Match Reports: http://www.handball.jp/games/2007/toyota_yosen/daily-n.html
Kuwait News Service Report: http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1838287&Language=en

South Korea won the show down match versus Kazakhstan (32-31), but failed to win by enough goals to pass Kazakhstan in the head to head goal differential tiebreaker. In the other final match Japan had easily taken care of winless Qatar 49-10 to leave open the possibility of a 3 way tie between Kazakhstan, Japan and South Korea. Korea however, failed to win by the necessary 4 goals, thus securing Kazakhstan its first ever Handball participation in an Olympics. As consolation South Korea’s win did secure a spot in one of the pre-Olympic qualification tournaments next Spring. South Korea will also have an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics at the World Championship in France this December. An outright win would secure automatic qualification, and placing 2-4th will secure hosting rights for a pre-Olympic tournament.

[b]Final Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kazakhstan 2 0 1 4 103 68 +35
Japan 2 0 1 4 100 66 +34
South Korea 2 0 1 4 105 77 +28
Qatar 0 0 3 0 41 138 -97

[b]Korea – Japan – Kazakhstan (Head to Head Standing) W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kazakhstan 1 0 1 2 59 54 +5
South Korea 1 0 1 2 60 60 0
Japan 1 0 1 2 51 56 -5

[b]Final Ranking[/b]
1) Kazakhstan
2) South Korea
3) Japan
4) Qatar

Women’s Olympic Qualification: http://teamhandballnews.com/page18.html