The Saudi handball team has reached the Junior World Championship for the fourth time in its history after beating South Korea 32-28 to progress to the semi-finals of the 17th Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship in Manama.
The eight-team continental tournament, taking place in the Bahraini capital, acts as a qualifying campaign for 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, which will be held jointly by Germany and Greece from June 20 to July 2 next year.
The young Falcons went into the match third in Group A and needing to win to ensure their progress, having lost their last match 30-26 to Kuwait. Saudi Arabia led 15-14 at half time, and — led by man of the match Sajjad Al-Khudimi — maintained their superiority after the tiebreak to win by a four-point margin.
The victory sees Saudi Arabia lead the table with four points from three matches with Kuwait in second on three points (from two matches). South Korea, who have competed in all three fixtures, are third with three points, while Iran are bottom of the group with no points.
The results mean that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are guaranteed the top two positions in the group — and progress to the last four — regardless of the result of the final match between Kuwait and Iran.
Friday’s semi-finals will see the young Falcons take on hosts Bahrain, while Kuwait will face Japan.
The draw for the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship on Saturday placed Saudi Arabia’s handball national team in Group B alongside France, Slovenia and co-hosts Poland.
The tournament, organized by Sweden and Poland, will run from Jan. 12 to Jan. 29 in 2023.
The Saudi team has faced all three rivals in previous versions of the competition, having twice taken on Slovenia and Poland, while facing France once.
The first meeting against Slovenia was in 2001, ending in a 35-22 defeat for Saudi Arabia, while the second meeting in 2013 resulted in a 32-22 loss.
In 2003, Saudi Arabia faced France for the first time, in a match that ended in a 33-22 loss for the Green Falcons.
Poland, too, have won both of their encounters with Saudi Arabia — with a result of 28-14 in 2013, and 32-13 in 2015.
This will be the 10th time the Saudi national team has taken part in this competition, with the first of nine previous participations taking place in 1997, and the last in 2019. The team’s highest position was 10th in the 2003 competition played in Portugal.
