Asian Handball Championships (Semifinalists Set)

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Group play is over at the Men’s Asian Handball Championship and 4 semifinalists will now battle it out for Asia’s 3 tickets to the 2009 Men’s World Championships. In the final match Friday, host Iran needed a victory over defending champion Kuwait in order to advance. The hosts eked out a 35-34 victory creating a 3 way tie for first place with Kuwait, Iran and Bahrain all level at 6 points a piece. As Kuwait beat Bahrain, Bahrain beat Iran, and Iran beat Kuwait, the tiebreaker came down to goal differential in their 3 head to head competition. Proving that every goal counts in group play the final standings were

Kuwait (+1)
Iran (0)
Bahrain (-1)

So for group A, Kuwait finishes 1st in the Group, Iran takes 2nd, and Bahrain is 3rd.

In Group B, South Korea won all four of its matches to take 1st place. Saudi Arabia, courtesy of their victory over Qatar finished in 2nd place. Qatar which had qualified for the 2005 Championships finished 3rd and Japan, which had tied Saudi Arabia earlier, finished in 4th place. The United Arab Emirates was winless and took 5th place in the Group.

Seminal Matches for Sunday, February 24
Kuwait vs. Saudi Arabia
South Korea vs. Iran

[b]Where’s Yoon?: [/b] Korean star Kyung-Shin Yoon scored 15 goals on Wednesday night, but he was no where near Isfahan, Iran. Instead of playing for South Korea he was helping his club side Hamburg win a key Champions League match against Portland San Antonio. According to German media reports, Yoon and his club Hamburg had disagreed on his participation in the Asian Olympic qualifier in Japan. Speculation is that he is not testing Hamburg’s good graces and the importance of the Champions League matches are taking priority. Additionally, Yoon has indicated that he will probably retire at the end of the season and therefore would not participate in Croatia. Finally, as Korea has shown they can probably place 1st-3rd without his services

[b]Olympic Qualifier Rematch?:[/b] Both South Korea and Kuwait will need to take care of business in the semifinals, but the Championship game could very well be a rematch of the controversial Olympic Qualifier. The IHF has had control of the tournament and a Ukrainian and Russian pair have been officiating many of the matches. One of those pairs will surely officiate the semifinals and final, so in theory there should be no bias in those matches.

Official Site Results: http://www.asianhandball2008.com/Match.html

Champions League Broadcasts this Weekend

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The EHF live streaming is on again this weekend. The schedule includes a Women's match

Saturday, 23 February, 14:20hrs (Central European Time (CET))
Slagelse DT vs Viborg HK

Saturday, 23 February, 16:15hrs CET
Pick Szeged vs FC Barcelona

Saturday, 24 February, 15:50hrs CET
GOG Svendeborg TGI vs Celje Pivovarna Lasko

North America (East Coast) = CET – 6 hours

The two Men's matches should be interesting as all four clubs are in Group 4 and all four clubs are tied at 2 points, with the home team winning in each of the first two rounds. Barcelona is a 3 goal favorite on Saturday and Svendborg is a 1.5 goal favorite on Sunday.

Also, it's not obvious, but the entire games can be watched on demand. So if your time zone doesn't support a convenient live viewing, you can watch the match later at your leisure. To watch the match click on the tiny icon in the center next to the match results. Unfortunately, the EHF has set up this link right next to the score of the game so you will either need to be very careful with a sheet of paper or have someone else click the icon for you.

Link to videos: http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2007-08/videos

Kosovo Independence Will Require EHF and IHF Decisions

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The breakup of the former Yugoslavia continued this past week with Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia. This declaration was recognized by several countries, including the USA, France, Germany, the UK and Italy. But other countries, including Serbia, Spain and Russia have indicated that they will not recognize Kosovo as an independent state.

On a sporting level, the IOC has indicated that they will wait for UN recognition before granting Olympic Status. While IOC recognition is important, it is not a requirement for either the International Handball Federation (IHF) or European Handball Federation (EHF) to recognize Kosovo for membership. Already, the EHF has granted Kosovo Associate Member status which has allowed Kosovo clubs to play in European competitions. Last year a Serbian club was fined and forfeited a match for refusing to play a Kosovar club. In other instances Kosovo-Serbian matchups have been staged on neutral sites. As Handball is one of Kosovo’s top team sports they will undoubtedly press the EHF for full membership. As a precedence, EHF recognition of Montenegro was very swift and allowed Montenegro to qualify and participate in the European Championships only a year and half after obtaining independence. Montenegro’s independence, however, was less controversial then Kosovo’s, so it will be interesting to see how the EHF responds.

Wikipedia Article on Kosovo Declaration of Independence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_reaction_to_the_2008_Kosovo_declaration_of_independence

Washington Post: IOC: Kosovo Olympic Team Unlikely: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021801072.html

Serbian Handball Association Commentary on Kosovo being granted Associate Membership in the EHF:
http://www.kosovakosovo.com/forum/index.php?change_lang=en&id=3064

Greenland Cleared to Participate in PATHF Junior Tournament

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Greenland has received notification from the PATHF that they now will be allowed to participate in the PATHF Junior Women’s Tournament scheduled for March 10-16, in Argentina. As reported earlier, the PATHF appeared to be stonewalling Greenland by not providing scheduling information concerning the tournament. Additionally, formal correspondence between the PATHF and the IHF concerning Greenland’s membership status implied that the PATHF had not recognized the IHF Court of Arbitration ruling that Greenland should be reinstated as a full PATHF member.

The notification that Greenland received, however, dispels that notion and fully acknowledges Greenland’s right to play in the upcoming tournament. But while Greenland is cleared to play for this tournament, the PATHF still maintains that Greenland’s status as a PATHF member still needs to be fully resolved either through the IHF appeal process or other legal action. The PATHF, however, concedes that until such time a ruling reverses the current status quo, Greenland is a full member and will be allowed to participate in PATHF tournaments.

Greenland Saga Continues (Jan 08): https://teamhandballnews.com/comment-n444.html
IHF Ruling: Greenland Reinstated as Full PATHF Member (Nov 07): https://teamhandballnews.com/comment-n410.html

Pick Szeged – GOG Svendborg Video

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[html] Pick Szeged edged GOG Svendborg 34-33 in a Champions League match over the weekend. Svendborg tied the score on a fluke goal with about a minute left that left Pick Goalie Nenan Puljezevic wondering if he had just cost his team the game. He got his redemption moments later however, when he blocked a penalty shot then joined his team on the offensive end of the floor where his entry into the 6 meter area distracted the Svendborg defense leading to an easy goal and the 34-33 victory.
You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7ql72db2I
EHF feature on Nenad Puljezevic: http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2007-08/article/11157/I+analysed+all+players+years+ago
EHF write up on match: http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2007-08/article/11167/Decision+in+the+last+second [/html]

Forum Added to the Site

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[html] Recently our site got a couple of extensive post in the comments section from a couple of former USA Handball Presidents. While the commentaries were interesting they were, in my opinion, too long and not related to the story. This isn’t the first time our comments section has degenerated into long and involved discussion that‘s somewhat misplaced. While we don’t want to stifle debate, we would like, however, for the news section to remain a news section.

To solve this quandary we’ve added a forum to the website. The link is there at the top of the page and the forum will be the venue for protracted discussion and debate. When you want to vent on a particular topic and/or debate handball issues this is your venue. This doesn’t mean that you can’t comment on a particular article, but let’s try and keep the comments short and germane to the article. A great example of how the article comment section should be used is Yaz’s tip on registering for the EHF video streaming.

And of course another benefit of the forum is that you can pick the topic, within reason. All that we ask is that you keep it civil. We hope this plan makes sense and we hope that members take advantage of the forum to air their views and share information. [/html]

IHF Identifies Participants for Olympic Handball Qualifiers, but Fails to Recognize ICAS Ruling Impact

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The International Handball Federation (IHF) has confirmed which nations will participate in the Olympic Handball Qualifiers this spring. The three tournaments for the Women will be March 28-30 and three tournaments for the Men will be May 30 – June 1. Each tournament will consist of 4 teams and the top 2 teams will qualify for the Olympics in Beijing.

Missing from the IHF release, however, is any consideration as to the potential impact of the Asian Olympic Qualifier controversy on the final placement of teams. The placement of teams from Asia is based on the results of the Asia Olympic Qualifier replay tournaments that were conducted by the IHF. The Asian Handball Federation (AHF), however, does not recognize the results of those tournaments and the IHF and AHF have mutually agreed to let the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) decide on the matter. If ICAS rules in favor of the IHF, the placement of the teams should stand as advertised. Should the ICAS, however, rule in favor of the AHF the tournaments will need to be reshuffled.

For the men the change would be straightforward. If the ICAS rules in favor of the IHF, South Korea automatically qualifies for Beijing and Japan participates in Tournament 3 against Croatia, Russia and Algeria. If the ICAS rules in favor of the AHF, Kuwait would secure the automatic ticket for Beijing and South Korea would take Japan’s spot in Tournament 3.

For the women the change is not so simple. Like the men, if the ICAS rules in favor the IHF, South Korea will automatically qualify for Beijing and Japan will participate in a qualification tournament. In its recent announcement the IHF places Japan in Tournament 3 against France, Hungary and the Congo. If the ICAS rules in favor of the AHF for the Women’s tournament, however, the solution can not be a simple swap out of teams like it was for the Men. This is because South Korea placed 6th at the World Championships and by precedence earns a spot in a qualification tournament by that route, rather than its 2nd place showing in the original Asian Championship.

Further complicating things is the fact that South Korea’s 6th place finish, the highest of any non European team, also resulted in Asia being awarded 2 spots for the Olympic Qualification tournaments. Prior to the decision to conduct a replay tournament this meant that both Japan and Qatar were assigned to those tournaments. With only Japan and South Korea participated in the replay tournament, however, there was no longer a 3rd place team from Asia. The rules that the IHF laid out did not specifically state what was to be done in this instance, but the IHF appears to have decided to award this spot to the 3rd place team (Congo) from the 3rd best continent (Africa).

Here’s a summary of the results from the two Asia tournaments and their impact on Olympic qualification:

[b]Original Tournament[/b]
1) Kazakhstan (Automatic Ticket)
2) South Korea (5th place World Championships)
3) Japan (2nd Place- Asia)
4) Qatar (3rd Place- Asia)

[b]Replay Tournament[/b]
1) South Korea (Automatic Ticket)
2) Japan (2nd Place- Asia)
3) Congo* (3rd place Asia spot given to 3rd place Africa)

So, if the ICAS rules in favor of the IHF the three tournaments will be:

Tournament 1: Germany (2nd WC), Spain (7th WC), Sweden (2nd Europe) Cuba (2nd PATHF)
Tournament 2: Romania (3rd WC), Croatia (6th WC), Cote d’Ivoire (2nd Africa), Poland (3rd Europe)
Tournament 3: France (4th WC), Hungary (5th WC), Japan (2nd Asia), Congo (3rd Africa)

But, if the ICAS rules in favor of the AHF the three tournaments should be:

Tournament 1: Germany (2nd WC), Croatia (7th WC), Sweden (2nd Europe) Cuba (2nd PATHF)
Tournament 2: Romania (3rd WC), Hungary (6th WC), Cote d’Ivoire (2nd Africa), Poland (3rd Europe)
Tournament 3: France (4th WC), South Korea (5th WC), Japan (2nd Asia), Qatar (3rd Asia)

And to throw yet another wrinkle into the mix, the IHF could also decide to swap the 2nd place teams from Africa and Asia. In an IHF press release shortly after the World Championships, this swap was indeed made. Speculation was that the IHF wanted to avoid a tournament with too many Asian teams, but requests to the IHF for clarification were unanswered.

Analysis: It’s not a fait accompli that the ICAS will rule in favor of the IHF. The ICAS decision could be based solely on procedural issues unrelated to the quality of the officiating at the matches in question. Additionally, there appears to be more evidence supporting the decision to replay the Men’s tournament, so it’s quite possible that a split decision whereby the Men’s replay would be recognized, but the Women’s replay wouldn’t could be a possible outcome. Making that decision is also “easier” in that South Korea should be a virtual lock to place either 1st or 2nd in Tournament 3. The end result would be both Kazakhstan and South Korea qualifying for the Olympics. And should that happen, the odd result of this Asian controversy would be Spain getting bounced out of the Olympic Qualification tournaments. Regardless, the ICAS needs to be pressed into making a decision as soon as possible, so that South Korea, if necessary, is ready to participate in the Olympic Qualifier in France on March 28th. Of course the IHF, could schedule some more replays, but I’m guessing that is something they’ll want to avoid!

IHF Tourney Pairings Announcement (Feb 08): http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1021
IHF Tourney Pairings Announcement (Dec 07): http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=218&idart=995

Handball Video Streaming ($43 vs. Free): Hmmm…. I’ll take Free, Thank You

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It never ceases to amaze me the varied options that have been provided for watching handball video over the web in the past couple of years. You never know what you’re going to get and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the pricing strategies being employed.

Case in point is the dramatically different prices offered recently for two products from the same parent entity, the EHF. For the Men’s European Handball Championships in January a variety of packages were offered with a complete pass topping out at 29.99 Euros or $43 with the current lackluster value of the US Dollar of late. For $43 customers were subjected to shoddy customer service, appallingly poor English commentary, complete drop outs of video, and misleading pronouncements that you could watch any game on demand any time you want. And that’s just some of the problems, I put together in a 4 page missive that I wrote to the EHF asking for restitution for handball fans everywhere.

And then one week later the EHF provides Champions League matches for free. Maybe the dramatic price drop was the EHF’s way of saying sorry, but whatever the rationale, I can’t complain this time around. The bit rate is about 600 kbs which gives a similar quality to that which was seen with the European Handball Championships. Sure, I’d like the great picture that the HBL provides with 1,500 kbs and it would be nice if there was good English Language commentary, but I’ll take arena sounds over the commentary provided in Norway any time. And video on demand, that would allow me to watch the game at my leisure instead of Saturday morning would be great too. All those things would be nice, but when the price is nothing, I’m not going to complain.

Some might argue that the European Championships is a dramatically more important event and provides viewers better handball. While National team competition is compelling, particularly for the nations involved, I would argue that the Champions League is actually a better product for a number of reasons. With a few exceptions all of the World’s top players are still playing and instead of playing together as an all-star team with a couple of weeks of practice prior to the tournament they are practicing with their clubs all season. On top of that the competition is over several weeks instead of compressed into a two week tournament that doesn’t allow for sufficient rest.

So overall, I would argue that we have a bizarre situation where the free product is better then the $43 product. The EHF is offering 3 more free games this weekend. Let’s hope that this good deal continues.

AHF Yields to IHF Pressure/ ICAS to Settle Olympic Dispute

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The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) has agreed to let the IHF have the final say for officiating assignments at the upcoming Asian Handball Championships. In a letter to the Bahrain Handball Association obtained by the Gulf Daily News the IHF stated the following, “We are happy to inform you that IHF received a letter from AHF where they clearly and unconditionally accept the IHF stipulations.. We are currently preparing the travel and visa arrangements for the IHF representative, delegate and referees."

The Gulf Daily News further states that the earlier articles detailing past transgressions in Asia appearing in their newspaper helped influenced the IHF’s decision to threaten to stage an alternative Asian Qualifier for the 2009 World Championships in Croatia. As previously reported here the IHF actually released a statement indicating that the Championships scheduled for Iran next week would not be recognized by the IHF.

As far as the Olympics Qualifiers are concerned the Kyodo News service of Japan is now reporting that the IHF and AHF have mutually agreed to have the issue be resolved by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS). As the Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments are scheduled for March 28-30, the ICAS will need to move quickly to resolve the issue in time to determine the Asian participants in these tournaments.

Gulf Daily News: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=208583&Sn=SPOR&IssueID=30330
Kyodo News: http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=362501
2008 Asian Handball Championships Website: http://www.asianhandball2008.com/

The Disappearing IHF News Item

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[html] As noted in the previous news item the IHF had announced that the Asian Handball Championships would not count as qualification to the World Championships.  This news item has since been taken off the IHF website.  Here's the text in case you missed it.

"After the recent debacle in Toyota, Japan, that led to the replays of the Asian Olympic Qualifying Games at the end of January 2008, the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) refused to accept the IHF's control of the Men`s Asian Championship planned to take place in Esfahan, Iran, from 17 – 26 February. The winning team would normally qualify for the 2009 Men`s World Championship in Croatia. Following the AHF`s refusal to accept the IHF delegates` final say in the selection of the referees, the IHF had no choice but to declare that the results of this tournament will not qualify the winners for the World Championship.

As stressed by IHF President Dr Moustafa just recently during the press-conference in Lillehammer, Norway, in January, the IHF's supervision of continental qualifying tournaments had to be enforced on all the continents to ensure fairness and correctness in sport. The necessity for this measure has been reconfirmed at the Council Meeting of December 2007 and was already put into action at the Pan-American, African and European Championships.

The Asian qualifications for the 2009 Men`s World Championship will be held separately under the umbrella of the IHF. "
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AHF-IHF Confrontation Looms for Asian Handball Championships

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The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) has imposed a fine of $1,000 on the South Korean and Japanese Handball Federations as punishment for taking part in the Olympic qualification replay tournaments. The fine was the maximum that could be imposed by the Executive Committee and the AHF has indicated that further action may be taken by the AHF Council. Additionally, both Japan and South Korea must pay their fine before they can participate in the Asian Handball Championship which start in Iran on 17 February.

South Korea and Japan have both indicated, however, that they will not pay the fine. Speaking to the Yonhap News Agency, Chung Hyung-kyun, vice president of the Korean Handball Federation said, “We will not pay one won in fine as any payment will be tantamount to acknowledging the rematches were wrong, although the amount of the fine is not so big," (Note: the won is the unit of currency in Korea). Earlier reports also indicated that the Korean and Japanese team would travel to Iran for the tournament without knowing whether they would be allowed to take the court.

The latest news reported in the Gulf Times of Qatar now reports that the IHF has intervened and formally notified the AHF that the IHF will not recognize the Asian Handball Championships as legitimate unless the IHF can directly appoint officials for matches at the tournament. And if the AHF does not relent, the IHF has indicated that they will organize a separate Asian Qualifier for the World Championships. As a result of this IHF action, South Korea and Japan may simply boycott the tournament next week in Iran.

Speculation is also ensuing that the rift in Asian Handball may lead to an East-West split. According to the Yonhap report Japan and South Korea are already considering starting a new federation and Kuwaiti Men’s Coach, Friis Hansen tells Handball-World that it was his opinion that “the Europeans saw a chance to split Asia and get rid of IHF-President Hassan Mustafa.” But, there appears to be at least some cracks in support among the Arab Gulf states as Bahraini officials have called AHF actions into question as well.

Also, unclear is whether the AHF will take or has taken action to have the case reviewed by the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS). With the most senior handball body, the IHF, ruling against the AHF on both the Olympic and World Championship Qualifying events, their only course to reverse the actions is probably through the ICAS. Taking the case to ICAS, however, could simply result in an independent 3rd party validating the IHF’s decision and calling further into question the actions of the AHF leadership in recent years.

ADDENDUM: The IHF has just released a notice on their website http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1019 confirming that the tournament in Iran will not serve as the qualifier for the World Championship. And as a sign of the increasing tension the tone of the release makes no attempt to downplay the significance of this action and refers to the first olympic qualifiers as a "debacle."

Yonhap Korean News Service: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/02/06/34/0702000000AEN20080206001800315F.HTML
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/02/10/99/0702000000AEN20080210002300315F.HTML

Gulf Times of Qatar: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=200623&version=1&template_id=49&parent_id=29

The Peninsular of Qatar: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Sports_News&subsection=Handball&month=February2008&file=Sports_News2008020763849.xml

Handball-World: http://www.handball-welt.de/o.red.c/news.php?GID=1&auswahl=13211

Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20080207a1.html

EHF Offers Free Live Broadcasts of Champions League

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[html] Well, maybe the EHF is trying to make up for their less than spectacular Euro 2008 web streaming, but whatever the reason I’ll be looking forward to seeing my “favorite” team, Montpellier in action this Saturday against German side Gummersbach. This should be a good game between evenly matched teams. Sunday’s offering between French champion Ivry and German Champion Kiel will be a homecoming of sorts for Kiel’s Frenchmen Karabatic and Ohmeyer, but barring a mega performance from Luc Abalo it should be an easy victory for Kiel.

To watch the games you first need to register at the laola1.tv website: www.laola1.tv The instructions are in German, but it’s pretty intuitive as to what you need to enter. After you’ve registered, you’ll then get an email with your username and password. You can then log on to the site and change your password. As this process takes a few minutes you’re probably better off doing it now rather than game time on Saturday. 
Top 10 Reasons Why I Love……. Montpellier Handball:http://teamhandball.blogspot.com/search?q=montpellier [/html]

Miami Tournament Final results!

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Miami Tournament Results

February 3rd The 2008 Miami Sharks Invitational concluded Sunday with the crowning of the host team Miami as Tournament champions after their 36-25 victory over runner-up West Point in the Championship game.  The Houston Stars took third place after defeating the Miami Remix team 29-18 on Sunday.Zael Chappotin was named Most Valuable Goalie after a dominating performance throughout the tournament.  Fellow Shark Jose Pelayo took home the plaque for Most Valuable Player while Walsh from West Point took home top scorer honors.Once again, the Miami Tournament was broadcast live over the internet.  The tournament set a new record for viewers of a Handball tournament over the internet in the United States.The tournament, sponsored by www.Iamsport.org, will be archived on www.livesportsvideo.com under the team handball section.  February 1st, Friday:

6PM- HOUSTON 23 – WEST POINT 30 
8PM- MIAMI 37 – REMIX 17 

February 2nd, Saturday:

3PM- WEST POINT 37 – REMIX 25
5PM- MIAMI 31 – HOUSTON 19

February 3rd, Sunday:

10AM- HOUSTON 29 – REMIX 18
11.30AM – MIAMI 36 – WEST POINT 25

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