(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Armstrong Vas | The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar defeated Japan 36-28 to register their second successive win and qualify for the next round of the 2020 Asian Men's Handball Championship in Kuwait yesterday.
On Thursday, Qatar had began their campaign in the championship with a resounding 49-18 victory over China in the Group B match.
13 teams are competing for continental glory at the championship, which ends on January 27. The event also serves as a qualifying event for the 2021 World Championship in Egypt.
Qatar concluded their Group B engagements with an all-win record. The group also included Japan and China.
After the preliminary stage in Kuwait, top two teams from each group - divided into two groups - will feature in the main round before the event advances to the semi-finals.
All 43 games will be played at the Saad Al-Abdullah sports arena in Kuwait City with the 13 nations divided into four groups.
Group A includes Bahrain, Iran and New Zealand while Group C comprises South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Hosts Kuwait, UAE, Hong Kong and Iraq form Group D.
All four teams in the semi-finals will have already booked their spot at Egypt 2021 and if Australia or New Zealand finish fifth or higher they will qualify through too. If either of the teams from Oceania finish in sixth place or lower, then that qualification place will be transferred to a wild card.
Qatar won the previous edition of the Men's Asian Championship in 2018 in Korea. They defeated Bahrain 33:31 in the final a repeat of the finals from 2014 and 2016 which saw Qatar beat Bahrain both times.
Bahrain got some sweet revenge though later in 2019, shocking the dominant Qataris in October when they defeated the host nation 34:29 in the AHF Men's Asian Qualification Tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
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