Kazakhstan rallied from a 14-15 halftime deficit to beat Japan 28-22 to take a commanding lead in this round robin tournament. In other action South Korea easily defeated winless Qatar 45-17. The stage is now set for the Koreans to take on the host Kazakhs in a showdown match Wednesday night.

Assuming that these qualifiers are following the tie-breaker format used in most round robin tournaments today, South Korea will win the tournament with a 4 goal victory. A 3 goal or less victory will result in Kazakhstan tournament win. Japan because they are locked at -5 goal differential can not win the tournament, but they will certainly be rooting for Kazakhstan as it will give them 2nd place and entry into an Olympics Qualification tournament. Should South Korea lose the match and place 3rd they will need to finish 1st -7th at the upcoming World Championships to qualify for an Olympics Qualification tournament.

[b]Current Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kazakhstan 2 0 0 4 72 36 +36
Japan 1 0 1 2 51 56 -5
South Korea 1 0 1 2 73 46 +27
Qatar 0 0 2 0 31 89 -58

[b]Korea – Japan – Kazakhstan (Head to Head Standing)[/b]
Kazakhstan 1 0 0 28 22 +6
Japan 1 0 1 2 51 56 -5
South Korea 0 0 1 0 28 29 -1

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

According to an Iranian News report the Asian Handball Federation has discussed rules modifications that would allow women athletes to wear Islamic dress at future Asian games. Asian Handball competitions for women have mostly been limited to nations from the orient and central Asia. A modification to player dress codes would likely see teams from Iran and some other countries participate.

Source: http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-909015&Lang=E

[b]Men: [/b] Kuwait continued their recent string of Asian Competition victories by defeating the host team Qatar, 27-24 in a pretty physical gold medal match. http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/menuroot/news/article.aspx?id=39464 Iran beat South Korea 31-27 for the bronze. This was Kuwait’s first Asian Games Gold, but they have won the last 3 Asian Handball Championships(2002,2004,2006). The 4 teams that made the semi-finals were also the same top 4 teams at the Asian Championships, earlier this year in Thailand. Of some note, is China placing a disappointing 11th place. With the 2008 Olympics only a year and half away the Chinese are rapidly running out of time if they hope to field a reasonably competitive team in Beijing.

[b]Men’s Final Ranking[/b]
1. Kuwait
2. Qatar
3. Iran
4. South Korea
5. Syria
6. Japan
7. Bahrain
8. Saudi Arabia
9. Lebanon
10. United Arab Emirates
11. China
12. India
13. Hong Kong
14. Uzbekistan
15. Macau

Preliminary Round Summary: http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/Sports/HB/IGHBPreRoundSumm.aspx?rscid=HBM01
Main Round and Placement Matches: http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/Sports/HB/IGHBFinalSumm.aspx?rscid=HBM01

[b]Women:[/b] The South Korea women continued their domination of Asia. They have never lost an Asian Games competition and they made their way through this one with an unblemished record. China, however, played them close in the semifinal losing 34-32. The top 4 teams in the standings here also placed in the top 4 at the Asian Championships earlier this year and they will participate in the 2007 World Championships in France next year.

[b]Women’s Final Ranking[/b]
1. South Korea
2. Kazakhstan
3. Japan
4. China
5. Taiwan
6. Uzbekistan
7. Thailand
8. India

The Asian Games, Asia’s version of the PANAM Games are underway in Doha, Qatar. Handball is one of 39 sports being staged at this major competition. Arguably, it is only behind the Olympics and the Soccer World Cup in terms of overall scale and Qatar is putting on quite a show, investing $2.8 Billion to stage the games and showcase their ability to potentially host an Olympic Games. They have already indicated that they will bid for the 2016 Games

The Handball Competition will be extensive with games running from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM practically every day from 3-14 December. 15 Men and 8 Women’s teams will be competing and you can find more information here http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/menuroot/sports/Handball.aspx and in our links section on the right hand side.
For more information on the Asian Games check out this BBC Documentary podcast:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/6159891.stm

As reported on the [link=http://www.handball-wm-2007.de]official website[/link] for the 2007 World Championships in Germany, the Asian Championships ended with Kuwait taking the Gold (third time in a row), South Korea Silver and Qatar bronze.
The tournament in Germany will include 6 brackets with 4 teams each. After the first round, the top two teams in each bracket will play for the title and the bottom two teams play for the President's Cup. The games will take place all over Germany in stadiums featuring capacities of up to 19,000 spectators.