2018 Asian Women's Handball Championship

The 2018 Asian Women's Handball Championship was the 17th edition of the Asian Women's Handball Championship, which took place from 30 November to 9 December 2018 in Kumamoto, Yamaga and Yatsushiro, Japan.^[1] The tournament was held under the aegis of Asian Handball Federation and acted as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2019 World Women's Handball Championship.

2018 Asian Women's Handball Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Dates	30 November – 9 December
Teams	10 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	South Korea (14th title)
Runners-up	Japan
Third place	China
Fourth place	Kazakhstan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	1,438 (49.59 per match)
Attendance	24,707 (852 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sally Potocki (57 goals)
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South Korea won their fourth straight and 14th overall title after defeating Japan in the final.^[2]

Draw

The draw was held on 6 August 2018 at the Hotel Nikko in Kumamoto.^[3]

Teams were seeded according to the AHF COC regulations and rankings of the previous edition of the championship. Teams who had not participate in the previous edition were in Pot 4.^[4]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
South Korea  Japan	China  Kazakhstan	Iran  Hong Kong	Australia  New Zealand  India  Singapore

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+9).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan (H)	4	4	0	0	140	55	+85	8	Semifinals
2	Kazakhstan	4	3	0	1	148	95	+53	6
3	Australia	4	2	0	2	99	105	−6	4	5–8th place semifinals
4	Iran	4	1	0	3	96	120	−24	2
5	New Zealand	4	0	0	4	50	158	−108	0	9th place game

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

30 November 2018 16:45	Australia	24–32	Kazakhstan	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 800 Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Potocki 12	(15–15)	three players 7
	3×	Report[usurped]	3× 1×

30 November 2018 19:00	New Zealand	5–41	Japan	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Antić, Jakovljević (SRB)
	Anastasiou 3	(2–20)	Tanabe 9
	1× 5×	Report[usurped]	1× 2×

---

1 December 2018 13:45	Iran	26–41	Kazakhstan	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 360 Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Rajabi 6	(12–18)	Abilda 10
	1× 4×	Report[usurped]	3× 2×

1 December 2018 16:00	Australia	18–37	Japan	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Potocki 8	(8–19)	Katsuren 8
	1× 4×	Report[usurped]	2× 2×

---

2 December 2018 13:45	Kazakhstan	51–14	New Zealand	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 500 Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Abilda, Khardina 8	(26–5)	Anastasiou 6
	2× 1×	Report[usurped]	2× 3×

2 December 2018 16:00	Australia	29–24	Iran	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 400 Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Potocki 12	(12–11)	Janbaz 6
	1× 4×	Report[usurped]	3× 4× 1×

---

4 December 2018 16:45	New Zealand	12–28	Australia	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 500 Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Hazelton 4	(3–15)	Mouncey 6
	2× 5×	Report[usurped]	2×

4 December 2018 19:00	Iran	8–31	Japan	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 1,700 Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Baperi 3	(5–15)	Yokoshima 7
	3× 3×	Report[usurped]	2× 2×

---

5 December 2018 16:45	New Zealand	19–38	Iran	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 500
	Anastasiou 7	(10–20)	Baperi 6
	1× 5×	Report[usurped]	3× 1×

5 December 2018 19:00	Japan	31–24	Kazakhstan	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 1,550
	Tanabe 9	(14–11)	Alexandrova, Tankina 6
	4× 2×	Report[usurped]	1× 4×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	4	4	0	0	139	57	+82	8	Semifinals
2	China	4	3	0	1	121	53	+68	6
3	Hong Kong	4	2	0	2	82	114	−32	4	5–8th place semifinals
4	India	4	1	0	3	73	113	−40	2
5	Singapore	4	0	0	4	45	123	−78	0	9th place game

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.

30 November 2018 16:45	Singapore	7–35	China	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 700 Referees: Hizaki, Ikebuchi (JPN)
	Ham, Leow 2	(2–15)	Tian, Zhou 5
		Report[usurped]

30 November 2018 19:00	India	10–37	South Korea	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 600 Referees: Shimajiri, Ota (JPN)
	Menika 4	(5–17)	three players 7
	2× 4×	Report[usurped]	2× 3×

---

1 December 2018 13:45	Hong Kong	10–36	China	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 600 Referees: Mousavian, Kolahdouzan (IRN)
	Wu 4	(2–16)	Liang 8
	2× 1×	Report[usurped]	3× 3×

1 December 2018 16:00	Singapore	9–41	South Korea	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 700 Referees: Antić, Jakovljević (SRB)
	Chan, Wan 3	(1–24)	Lee M. 10
	1× 2×	Report[usurped]

---

2 December 2018 13:45	China	29–12	India	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 800
	Jin 7	(16–4)	Menika 6
	1× 3×	Report[usurped]	2× 2×

2 December 2018 16:00	Singapore	12–25	Hong Kong	Yamaga Gymnasium, Yamaga Attendance: 711
	Wan 4	(7–13)	Wong Y. 5
	5×	Report[usurped]	2× 1×

---

4 December 2018 16:45	Hong Kong	17–37	South Korea	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 250 Referees: Mousavian, Kolahdouzan (IRI)
	Cheung Me. 4	(7–19)	Jung 10
	1× 4×	Report[usurped]	1× 1×

4 December 2018 19:00	India	22–17	Singapore	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 300 Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Anumit, H. Kaur 5	(13–7)	Wan 8
	3× 3×	Report[usurped]	1× 1×

---

5 December 2018 16:45	South Korea	24–21	China	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Attendance: 700 Referees: Antić, Jakovljević (SRB)
	Jung 8	(14–12)	Jin, Zhou 4
	1× 1×	Report[usurped]	1× 5×

5 December 2018 19:00	India	29–30	Hong Kong	Yatsushiro Gymnasium, Yatsushiro Referees: Shimajiri, Ota (JPN)
	Menika 10	(15–18)	Cheung Me. 8
	2×	Report[usurped]	3×

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	7 December
	South Korea	31
					9 December
	Kazakhstan	23
					South Korea	30
	7 December
					Japan	25
	Japan	23
	China	21
					Third place
					9 December
					Kazakhstan	21
					China	27

5–8th place bracket

	5–8th place semifinals				Fifth place
	7 December
	Australia	31
					8 December
	India	27
					Australia	30
	7 December
					Iran	24
	Hong Kong	17
	Iran	19
					Seventh place
					8 December
					India	27
					Hong Kong	31

5–8th place semifinals

7 December 2018 12:30	Australia	31–27	India	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 139 Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Potocki 13	(16–13)	Prachi 7
	3× 5×	Report[usurped]	2× 8×

---

7 December 2018 14:30	Hong Kong	17–19	Iran	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 650 Referees: Shimajiri, Ota (JPN)
	Cheung Me. 5	(7–10)	Janbaz 5
	1× 2×	Report[usurped]

Semifinals

7 December 2018 16:45	South Korea	31–23	Kazakhstan	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 830 Referees: Mousavian, Kolahdouzan (IRI)
	Shin 9	(14–13)	Abilda 6
	3× 4×	Report[usurped]	2× 2×

---

7 December 2018 19:00	Japan	23–21	China	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 1,380 Referees: Antić, Jakovljević (SRB)
	Hara 8	(11–11)	Jin 9
	1× 4×	Report[usurped]	3× 2×

Ninth place game

7 December 2018 10:30	New Zealand	18–20	Singapore	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 500 Referees: Cheng, Zhou (CHN)
	Mair 5	(5–10)	Gan, Wan 5
	2× 2×	Report[usurped]	2× 5×

Seventh place game

8 December 2018 13:45	India	27–31	Hong Kong	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 500 Referees: Lee, Lee (KOR)
	Prachi 7	(15–17)	Cheung Me. 6
	2× 4×	Report[usurped]	3× 3×

Fifth place game

8 December 2018 16:00	Australia	30–24	Iran	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 550 Referees: Hizaki, Ikebuchi (JPN)
	Guignard 10	(13–12)	Fallahi 7
	1× 3×	Report[usurped]	1× 7×

Third place game

9 December 2018 12:45	Kazakhstan	21–27	China	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 2,400 Referees: Shimajiri, Ota (JPN)
	three players 4	(11–13)	Huang Y., Zhou 6
	1× 3×	Report[usurped]	3× 4×

Final

9 December 2018 15:00	South Korea	30–25	Japan	Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, Kumamoto Attendance: 3,087 Referees: Al-Mawt, Marhoon (BHR)
	Ryu 11	(14–15)	Hara, Yokoshima 5
	1× 3×	Report[usurped]	2× 5×

Final standing

Rank	Team
	South Korea
	Japan
	China
4	Kazakhstan
5	Australia[1]
6	Iran
7	Hong Kong
8	India
9	Singapore
10	New Zealand

^ 1. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finished within the top 5, they qualified for the World Championships. If they had both placed sixth or lower, the place would have been transferred to the wild card spot.^[5]

Qualified for the 2019 World Women's Handball Championship

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	Sally Potocki	Australia	57
2	Dana Abilda	Kazakhstan	40
3	Menika Menika	India	32
	Jung Yu-ra	South Korea	32
5	Jin Mengqing	China	31

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	Team	Saves (exc. 7M)	Shots (exc. 7M)	7M Saves	7M Thr.	Total Saves	Total Shots	%
1	Manon Vernay	Australia	100	217	7	29	107	246	43.49%
2	Nina Shil	India	63	184	2	24	65	208	31.73%
3	Zhannat Aitenova	Kazakhstan	46	173	5	18	51	191	26.70%
4	Fatemeh Khalili Behfar	Iran	38	128	4	17	42	145	28.96%
5	Sakura Hauge	Japan	35	88	2	6	37	94	39.36%
6	Minami Itano	Japan	33	67	1	9	34	76	44.74%
7	Park Sae-young	South Korea	27	66	2	8	29	74	39.19%
8	Ju Hui	South Korea	28	81	0	5	28	86	32.56%
9	Chan Kam Ling	Hong Kong	25	78	0	33	25	111	22.52%
10	Huang Xia	China	23	46	1	6	24	52	46.15%