2018 Asian Men's Handball Championship

The 2018 Asian Men's Handball Championship was the 18th edition of the championship held under the aegis of Asian Handball Federation. The championship was hosted at Suwon, South Korea from 18 to 28 January 2018. It acted as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship. For the first time, Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh participated.^[1][2]

2018 Asian Championship

Tournament details
Host country	South Korea
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Dates	18–28 January
Teams	14 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	Qatar (3rd title)
Runners-up	Bahrain
Third place	South Korea
Fourth place	Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	45
Goals scored	2,428 (53.96 per match)
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Qatar won their third title after defeating Bahrain 33–31 in the final.^[3][4]

Venues

Suwon
	Suwon Gymnasium Capacity: 5,145	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium Capacity: 4,411

Draw

The draw took place on 13 September 2017 at 11:00.

Iraq withdrew on 4 January 2018 due to unavoidable circumstances. Iraq's withdrawal left only two teams in Group A, therefore Uzbekistan was moved from Group B to Group A to balance the number of teams in each group.

Referees

The following ten referee pairs were selected.

Referees  Bahrain Hussain Al-Mawt Samir Marhoon  China Cheng Yufeng Zhou Yunlei  Germany Robert Schulze Tobias Tönnies  Iran Alireza Mousavian Majid Kolahduzan  Iraq Fadhil Imran Khalid Hussein

Referees  Japan Kiyoshi Hizaki Tomokazu Ikebuchi  Jordan Akram Al-Zayat Yasser Awad  Montenegro Ivan Pavićević Miloš Ražnatović  South Korea Koo Bo-nok Lee Se-ok  South Korea Lee Gae-ul Lee Eun-ha

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+9).^[5]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	2	2	0	0	74	50	+24	4	Main round
2	Japan	2	1	0	1	70	64	+6	2
3	Uzbekistan	2	0	0	2	45	75	−30	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

18 January 2018 19:00	Uzbekistan	27–38	Japan	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Khusanbaev 14	(12–19)	Baig 8
	3× 4×	Report	2× 3×

---

19 January 2018 15:00	Iran	37–18	Uzbekistan	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Imran, Hussein (IRQ)
	Norouzinejad 6	(19–12)	Khusanbaev 6
	3× 1×	Report	2× 1×

---

20 January 2018 17:00	Japan	32–37	Iran	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Tokuda 10	(14–19)	Masaeli 8
	2× 3×	Report	3× 4×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	2	2	0	0	63	33	+30	4	Main round
2	Oman	2	1	0	1	56	49	+7	2
3	Australia	2	0	0	2	29	66	−37	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

18 January 2018 19:00	Australia	10–33	Bahrain	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Schulze, Tönnier (GER)
	Anderson 3	(6–12)	Fadhul 8
	2× 2×	Report	3× 2×

---

19 January 2018 17:00	Oman	33–19	Australia	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Al-Dughaishi 7	(16–8)	Bastin 6
	4× 7× 1×	Report	3× 5× 1×

---

20 January 2018 15:00	Bahrain	30–23	Oman	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Hizaki, Ikebuchi (JPN)
	M. Abdulqader 7	(19–8)	A. Al-Hasanj 8
	3× 3×	Report	2× 3×

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea (H)	3	3	0	0	102	63	+39	6	Main round
2	United Arab Emirates	3	2	0	1	97	59	+38	4
3	India	3	1	0	2	87	87	0	2
4	Bangladesh	3	0	0	3	46	123	−77	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts

18 January 2018 15:00	Bangladesh	20–46	South Korea	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Imran, Hussein (IRQ)
	three players 4	(8–21)	Sim 8
	2× 4×	Report

18 January 2018 17:00	India	23–41	United Arab Emirates	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Harender 6	(10–20)	S. Al-Blooshi 6
	2× 3×	Report	3× 4×

---

19 January 2018 17:00	India	23–35	South Korea	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	A. Khatkar 5	(11–21)	Jang 6
	2× 3×	Report	1×

19 January 2018 19:00	Bangladesh	15–36	United Arab Emirates	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Zayat, Awad (JOR)
	Chowdhury 5	(8–17)	W. Al-Blooshi 7
	3× 2×	Report	3× 2× 1×

---

20 January 2018 15:00	United Arab Emirates	20–21	South Korea	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Mousavian, Kolahduzan (IRI)
	A. Al-Blooshi 6	(9–8)	Jo, Yoon 5
	3× 4×	Report	2× 5×

20 January 2018 19:00	Bangladesh	11–41	India	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Chowdhury 4	(2–19)	D'Cunha 8
	3× 4×	Report	3× 2×

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	3	3	0	0	122	53	+69	6	Main round
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	92	66	+26	4
3	China	3	1	0	2	74	78	−4	2
4	New Zealand	3	0	0	3	40	131	−91	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

18 January 2018 15:00	China	24–30	Saudi Arabia	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Lee, Koo (KOR)
	Zhao 4	(11–13)	Hassan 6
	3× 5×	Report	1× 3×

18 January 2018 17:00	New Zealand	14–58	Qatar	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Hizaki, Ikebuchi (JPN)
	Fitzpatrick 4	(11–27)	Madadi, Zouaoui 11
	2×	Report	1×

---

19 January 2018 15:00	China	19–34	Qatar	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Attendance: 300 Referees: Mousavian, Kolahduzan (IRI)
	Zhao 5	(8–16)	Frankis 7
	3× 3× 1×	Report	3× 6×

19 January 2018 19:00	New Zealand	12–42	Saudi Arabia	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Fitzpatrick 4	(6–20)	Al-Abbas 11
	2× 2×	Report	1× 2×

---

20 January 2018 17:00	New Zealand	14–31	China	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Zayat, Awad (JOR)
	Lang 5	(7–16)	Wang 5
	3× 4×	Report	3× 2×

20 January 2018 19:00	Saudi Arabia	20–30	Qatar	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Al-Obaidi 3	(10–21)	Zouaoui 8
	2× 5×	Report	3× 5×

Classement round

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Uzbekistan	2	2	0	0	62	46	+16	4
2	India	2	1	0	1	65	53	+12	2
3	New Zealand	2	0	0	2	43	71	−28	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

22 January 2018 15:00	New Zealand	19–33	Uzbekistan	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Zayat, Awad (JOR)
	Lang 5	(8–13)	Khusanbaev 8
	3× 4× 1×	Report	3× 6× 1×

---

23 January 2018 15:00	India	38–24	New Zealand	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Ankit, Singh 6	(17–10)	Lang 7
	1× 3×	Report	2× 2×

---

24 January 2018 15:00	Uzbekistan	29–27	India	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Khusanbaev 13	(12–16)	Singh, Singh 6
	3× 2×	Report	2× 6×

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	China	2	2	0	0	61	26	+35	4
2	Australia	2	1	0	1	51	48	+3	2
3	Bangladesh	2	0	0	2	32	70	−38	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

22 January 2018 17:00	Bangladesh	22–35	Australia	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Emon 5	(15–16)	Anderson 7
	2× 4× 1×	Report	2× 8×

---

23 January 2018 17:00	China	35–10	Bangladesh	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	three players 5	(19–6)	Hasan, Rana 3
	2× 1×	Report	1× 3× 1×

---

24 January 2018 15:00	Australia	16–26	China	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Mousavian, Kolahduzan (IRI)
	Warrener 4	(8–14)	Wang 11
	3× 6×	Report	2× 4×

Placement matches

13th place game

26 January 2018 11:00	New Zealand	24–31	Bangladesh	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Lang 9	(10–16)	Hasan 7
	3× 2×	Report	2× 6×

Eleventh place game

26 January 2018 13:00	India	24–27	Australia	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Imran, Hussein (IRQ)
	Bidhuri, Singh 4	(12–10)	Szklarski 10
	3× 3×	Report	3× 6×

Ninth place game

26 January 2018 15:00	Uzbekistan	21–32	China	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Takhirov 6	(8–19)	Jialei, Wang 8
	1× 2×	Report	3× 4×

Main round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	3	0	0	78	66	+12	6	Semifinals
2	South Korea (H)	3	2	0	1	80	78	+2	4
3	Iran	3	1	0	2	88	79	+9	2
4	Oman	3	0	0	3	72	95	−23	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts

22 January 2018 15:00	Saudi Arabia	26–23	Iran	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Al-Abdulali 6	(12–11)	Kazemi 7
	2× 5×	Report	1× 9× 1×

22 January 2018 17:00	South Korea	29–27	Oman	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Jeong Y. 8	(12–13)	Al-Hasani 11
	1× 6×	Report	3× 6×

---

23 January 2018 15:00	Oman	20–26	Saudi Arabia	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Hizaki, Ikebuchi (JPN)
	Al-Dughaishi 7	(10–13)	Al-Obaidi 4
	3× 4× 1×	Report	2× 2×

23 January 2018 19:00	Iran	25–28	South Korea	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	S. Esteki 7	(10–16)	Yoon 7
	3× 7×	Report	2× 10×

---

24 January 2018 17:00	Saudi Arabia	26–23	South Korea	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Hassan 5	(11–12)	Eom 5
	3× 8× 1×	Report	2× 5×

24 January 2018 17:00	Iran	40–25	Oman	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Masaeli, Nosrati 7	(22–12)	Al-Dughaishi, Al-Hasani 8
	2× 3×	Report	1× 5×

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	3	3	0	0	103	64	+39	6	Semifinals
2	Bahrain	3	2	0	1	78	72	+6	4
3	Japan	3	1	0	2	71	89	−18	2
4	United Arab Emirates	3	0	0	3	62	89	−27	0

Source: AHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

22 January 2018 19:00	Qatar	40–23	Japan	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Frankis, Romane 5	(19–9)	five players 3
	1× 3×	Report	3× 2×

22 January 2018 19:00	United Arab Emirates	22–28	Bahrain	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Al-Blooshi, Al-Blooshi 5	(11–13)	Abdulqader 6
	2× 7× 1×	Report	3× 7× 1×

---

23 January 2018 17:00	Bahrain	21–29	Qatar	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Fadhul, Habib 5	(11–13)	Frankis 7
	3× 4×	Report	3× 3×

23 January 2018 19:00	Japan	27–20	United Arab Emirates	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Imran, Hussein (IRQ)
	Shida 6	(14–9)	Al-Blooshi 4
	2× 3×	Report	1× 4×

---

24 January 2018 19:00	Japan	21–29	Bahrain	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Agarie, Watanabe 6	(13–13)	Saad 9
	3× 2×	Report	2× 6×

24 January 2018 19:00	Qatar	34–20	United Arab Emirates	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Hizaki, Ikebuchi (JPN)
	Romane 9	(18–11)	Al-Blooshi 5
	1× 2× 1×	Report	2× 3×

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	26 January 2018
	Saudi Arabia	22
					28 January 2018
	Bahrain	24
					Bahrain	31
	26 January 2018
					Qatar	33
	Qatar	32
	South Korea	21
					Third place
					28 January 2018
					Saudi Arabia	21
					South Korea	29

Semifinals

26 January 2018 17:00	Qatar	32–21	South Korea	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Frankis 8	(14–8)	Eom 6
	3× 5×	Report	2× 5×

---

26 January 2018 19:00	Saudi Arabia	22–24	Bahrain	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Al-Hannabi 8	(11–11)	M. Abdulqader 4
	3× 4×	Report	2× 8× 2×

Seventh place game

26 January 2018 17:00	Oman	24–28	United Arab Emirates	Seo-Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Al-Hasani 8	(12–14)	Al-Bannai 8
	3× 5×	Report	3× 4×

Fifth place game

26 January 2018 15:00	Iran	33–28	Japan	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Heidarpour 8	(15–15)	Motoki 6
	3× 4×	Report	2× 4×

Third place game

28 January 2018 14:30	South Korea	29–21	Saudi Arabia	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Yoon 9	(16–6)	Hassan, Al-Hannabi 4
	3× 4×	Report	3× 5×

Final

28 January 2018 17:00	Qatar	33–31	Bahrain	Suwon Gymnasium, Suwon Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Frankis, Roiné 8	(16–17)	Fadhul 7
	2× 4×	Report	3× 3×

Final standing

Team qualified for the 2019 World Championship

Team qualified for the 2019 World Championship as a wild-card.

Rank	Team
	Qatar
	Bahrain
	South Korea
4	Saudi Arabia
5	Iran
6	Japan
7	United Arab Emirates
8	Oman
9	China
10	Uzbekistan
11	Australia
12	India
13	Bangladesh
14	New Zealand