The reigning champions are looking to build on their winning start after beating Oman in their opening game on Tuesday.

Qatar has made a dominating start to the tournament, outplaying Oman 31-14.

The 2022 Asian Championship hosted in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, serves as a qualifier for the World Men’s Handball Championship. The top five teams in this tournament will go to Poland and Sweden as they try and claim the world title. 

Qatar has dominated the Asian Championship in recent years, winning it in the last 4 iterations: 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. Only South Korea (5) and Kuwait (4) have a better record.

The country’s national team, Al-Annabi (The Maroons), is the top seed in the tournament ranking ahead of South Korea and Bahrain, their closest rivals. In 2021, Qatar finished 8th in the World Men’s Handball Championship to South Korea’s 31st.

Coached by Valero Rivera, the Qatari team undertook intensive preparations for the Asian Championship, participating in an international event at home in November before meeting Egypt and Iraq in a series of friendly matches in early January.

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The tournament’s format is a round-robin followed by a knockout stage.

Qatar will take on Iraq on Wednesday before meeting the UAE on Thursday in their last game of the first stage.

The top two teams will advance to the quarter-finals that will take place after 22 January.

16 teams will be playing in this championship, seeded in the following groups:

Group A

South Korea 

Kuwait

Jordan 

Singapore 

Group B

Saudi Arabia

Iran

Australia

India

Group C

Qatar

United Arab Emirates

Iraq

Oman

Group D

Bahrain

Hong Kong

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

*Thailand withdrew before the draw

*Japan withdrew due to multiple positive Covid-19 tests within its team.

Every team continues to play games even if they fail to qualify for the quarter-finals. They will be ranked from 1 to 16.

Qatar’s match against Iraq kicks of at 14:00 on Wednesday and against the United Arab Emirates on 20th January, at 16:00 UTC. Matches are broadcast on bEIN sports.

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