Six teams lined up at the start of the inaugural edition of the AHF Asian Women’s Under-16 Handball Championship, with the event in Kazakhstan, which took place between 10 and 17 May, being a qualification pathway towards the inaugural IHF Women’s Under-16 World Championship.

The People’s Republic of China remained the only unbeaten side at the end of the competition, also disposing of Uzbekistan in the final, with the two teams advancing to the World Championship.

The competition was played in a round-robin format, with the top four teams advancing to the semi-finals. The teams lining up in the Dostak Sport Complex in Almaty were hosts Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hong Kong-China, the People’s Republic of China and Uzbekistan.

The People’s Republic of China were the only side to finish the preliminary round with five wins in five matches, also registering the best attack, with 216 goals scored, and the best defence, with only 95 goals conceded, subsequently finishing with the best goal difference in the competition.

China started with a strong 56:9 win over Kyrgyzstan, following up with another double-digit win against Uzbekistan, 40:25. They also dominated Hong Kong-China, 41:15, before winning against Iran, 41:21, and hosts Kazakhstan, 38:25.

Hosts Kazakhstan finished second, with their most important match being the opener against Uzbekistan, where they clinched a 42:35 win. Wins against Kyrgyzstan (51:17),  Iran (38:33) and Hong Kong-China (46:23) made them finish second, ahead of Uzbekistan (6 points), Iran (4 points), Hong Kong-China (2 points) and Kyrgyzstan (0 points).

However, the hosts fell in the semi-finals in a high-octane match against Uzbekistan, with Uzbekistan taking an early lead, 10:6, after 17 minutes. However, Kazakhstan roared back and took back the lead at the break, 19:18, and led by as many as three goals after 36 minutes, 24:21.

But their attack suddenly stopped working and seven minutes later, Uzbekistan were in the driver’s seat, 29:27.  The hosts never managed to really put things into place in their attack and conceded a 32:34 loss, as Uzbekistan’s Fazilat Imomova scored 13 goals out of 16 shots to lift her team to a crucial win and a place in the final.

The second semi-final had no history, with the People’s Republic of China dominating against the Islamic Republic of Iran from start to finish. Yawen Cao scored nine goals and China won the match after only a few minutes, leading by a whopping 21-goal margin at the break, 25:4.

Eventually, they settled for a 45:23 win, also resting some of their players for the final, with goalkeeper Sirui Chen delivering a flawless performance, with 14 saves for a 77% saving efficiency.

In the last act, Uzbekistan only took the lead early, 2:1, but never got anything going, as China went on a 6:1 run to wrestle back the lead and never look back. After leading by 14 goals at the break, they secured a clear 42:25 win to lift the title.

Meishan Du scored 14 goals in the final, Ruixue Sun added nine goals, while Chen was again immense between the posts, with 10 saves and a 37% saving efficiency.

Kazakhstan’s Nurdana Kyrgyzbay was the top scorer of the competition, with 78 goals in seven matches, including 19 goals in the bronze medal match against Iran. China’s Meishan Du finished second in these standings, with 62 goals, while Iran’s Reyhaneh Hosseini scored 61 goals.

Both China and Uzbekistan made it to the IHF Women’s Under-16 World Championship, which will take place in October in Morocco, with the podium being closed by Kazakhstan, which beat Iran, 42:35, in the bronze medal match.