The 2025 AHF Men’s and Women’s Asian Beach Handball Championships throw-off on Tuesday 6 May in Muscat, Oman, running all the way through until Thursday 15 May.

The 10th edition of the continental event will feature nine men’s and four women’s teams, with qualification for the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships on offer as well as the Asian titles.

The draw for both the men’s and women’s competitions was conducted earlier this year at the City Seasons Muscat Hotel.

The men’s competition, featuring debutants Maldives and Jordan, will see nine teams split into two initial preliminary groups, with games played over 6 to 9 and 11 May. 

After the teams in each group have played each other, the top four in each will move through directly to the quarter-finals (12 May), and subsequent semi-finals (13 May) and finals (15 May).

The women’s competition features four teams playing each other twice in a league round-robin format across 12 games in total.

All games will be played in the evening at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher.

2025 marks the fourth time Muscat has hosted the event, following the inaugural event in 2004, the 3rd edition in 2011, and the 5th edition in 2015.

Qatar, who are not appearing in Muscat, are the most successful men’s team in competition’s history, winning five gold medals and one silver medal. Oman, Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran – who recently announced Brazilian beach handball legend Antonio Guerra Peixe is returning as technical director – have also won gold in the event.

“Hopefully we will qualify for the world championship,” said Philippines coach Gabriel de Guzman about the men’s team to local media ahead of the event. “We have had a training camp in Subic from 21 to 28 April and are in peak performance. It’s a very important event for us and we’re eyeing qualification.

“The medal we recently won at the South East Asian championship has made us confident, motivated and determined.

“For the women, we want to qualify once again for the world championships,” he added. “At the last Asian Championships we got silver and qualified for the 2024 IHF World Championships, so we want to qualify again and then we hope to improve our ranking 12 out of 16 as well as gaining experience on the world stage.”

Last time out, the 2023 AHF Men's and Women's Asian Beach Handball Championship was won by Vietnam's women and Qatar's men in the event held on Nusa Dua Beach, South Kuta, Bali, Indonesia.
 
Groups

Men’s Competition
Group A: Hong Kong, China (HKG), Maldives (MDV), Oman (OMA), Saudi Arabia (KSA)
Group B: Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), India (IND), Jordan (JOR), Pakistan (PAK), Philippines (PHI)

Women’s Competition
Group: Hong Kong, China (HKG), India (IND), Philippines (PHI), Vietnam (VIE)