After a 14-year drought, Qatar are Asian youth champions again, after sweeping their opponents, including Bahrain in the final of the 11th AHF Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship, which took place in Amman, Jordan, between 20 and 31 August.

With the 11th AHF Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship being a qualification event for the 2027 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, four teams secured their tickets to the world handball flagship competition- semi-finalists Qatar, Bahrain, Republic of Korea and Islamic Republic of Iran.

Qatar and Bahrain were the teams which secured the first place in the preliminary round, being undefeated, and their paths converged in the final, after they extended their winning streaks to six matches, following their four-match winning streak in the preliminary round.

In the quarter-finals, Qatar beat hosts Jordan by a whopping 20 goals, 33:13, while Bahrain were made to sweat by Saudi Arabia, which managed a single win in the preliminary round in four matches.

Saudi Arabia led by two goals in the 29th minute, but Bahrain quickly came back and took control of the match early in the second half, as Mohamed Marzooq and Ali Hasan had eight and six goals respectively.

The battle for the semi-finals places was a walkover in the other two matches, as the Islamic Republic of Iran dominated Uzbekistan, 36:24, while the Republic of Korea sealed a 36:28 win over Kuwait.

With Japan, the title holders, not taking part, the title was up for the taking and a new champion would be crowned in Jordan, but all of the teams had previously clinched the title, with Iran winners in 2006, Korea in 2004, 2014 and 2022, Qatar in 2010 and 2012 and Bahrain in 2016 and 2018.

The two Gulf states were confirmed for the final with wins in the semi-finals, but both had to work to secure safe passage to the last act.

Bahrain dominated against Iran and held the lead throughout the match, as four players scored four goals in the match to secure the 26:23 win, but with nine minutes to go it was still anyone’s game, as Iran were down a single goal, 19:20.

The other semi-final saw Qatar lead from start to finish, as Ramy Mahrous scored six goals and led the team to a 32:28 win against Korea, while goalkeeper Omar Elsayed saved 12 of the 39 shots he faced.

While on paper the final looked to be balanced, Qatar dominated the last act, leading from start to finish. They took an early 10:4 lead, which forced Bahrain to try and come from behind, with the lead being still six goals at the break, 16:10.

Bahrain did try to mount a comeback, but they never got something going, with Omar Elsayed still going strong, with 10 saves from 34 shots (29,4% saving efficiency) and Youssef Elgaabary scoring eight goals.

Eventually, Qatar sealed their third title, with a 28:24 win, tying the Republic of Korea as the most decorated team in the competition, with three titles. Bahrain lost the final for the first time, securing their maiden silver medal.

The bronze was won by the Republic of Korea, which secured their ninth medal in history, as a buzzer-beater from Jiseong Seong saw them beat Iran, 29:28.

Korea’s Junseok Oh was the top scorer of the competition, with 44 goals, followed by Bahrain’s Mohamed Marzooq, with 42 goals and Qatar’s Abdallah Hassan, who had 38 goals, as well as Korea’s Jiseong Seong and Uzbekistan’s Ozodbek Safarov.

The four qualified teams for the 2027 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship are, therefore, Qatar, Bahrain, Republic of Korea and Islamic Republic of Iran.