The 8th AHF Asian Men’s Youth Championship got underway in Amman, Jordan yesterday, with 14 teams looking for continental honours over the 10-day championship (16-26 September).

Alongside hosts Jordan (JOR), Bahrain (BRN), Saudi Arabia (KSA), China (CHN), Oman (OMA), Chinese Taipei (TPE), Syria (SYR), Korea (KOR), Iraq (IRQ), India (IND), Japan (JPN), Qatar (QAT), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) will all be hoping that they can show their best and grab one of the three available places for the 2019 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship – which will be held in FYR Macedonia – on offer in Jordan.

Starting back in Bangkok, Thailand in 2005, the AHF Asian Men’s Youth Championship has been held in Iran (Tehran – 2006), Jordan (Amman – 2008), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi – 2010), Bahrain (Manama – 2012), Jordan (Amman – 2014) and Bahrain (Manama – 2016).

The preliminary round of the 2018 edition will see all games played at the Princess Sumaya Hall and features four groups, with the top two in each going through to the main round and third place onwards going into the 9-14 placement round.

After beating Japan at home in the 2016 final, Bahrain will be looking to defend their title but face stiff competition and, following the first day of games, they have started as they mean to go on, beating Oman 33:17 but know the threat from Korea and Qatar particularly will be the strongest with both teams already winning their opening games (Korea vs India 45:30 and Qatar vs UAE 35:31). 2016 silver medallists Japan lost to Iran 29:28.

The preliminary groups are:

Group A: BRN, KSA, CHN, OMA

Group B: JOR, TPE, SYR

Group C: KOR, IRQ, IND

Group D: JPN, QAT, UAE, IRI

RESULTS

Sunday 16 September

IRI vs JPN 29:28 (17:15)

IND vs KOR 30:45 (11:22)

CHN vs KSA 22:35 (8:19)

OMA vs BRN 17:33 (9:17)

SYR vs JOR 26:29 (10:13)

UAE vs QAT 31:35 (17:17)

SCHEDULE

Monday 17 September

10:00 IRQ vs IND

11:45 CHN vs BRN

13:30 OMA vs KSA

15:15 IRI vs QAT

17:00 TPE vs SYR

18:45 UAE vs JPN

Tuesday 18 September

10:00 CHN vs OMA

11:45 BRN vs KSA

13:30 KOR vs IRQ

15:15 UAE vs IRI

17:00 JOR vs TPE

18:45 JPN vs QAT

Wednesday 19 September

Rest Day

Thursday 20 September – Saturday 22 September

Main Round and 9-14 Placement Matches

Sunday 23 September

Rest Day

Monday 24 September

Semi-Finals, 5-6, 7-8, 9-14 Placement Matches

Tuesday 25 September

Rest Day

Wednesday 26 September

Medal and 9-14 Placement Matche