The third edition of the Asian Youth Games took place between 22 and 31 October in Bahrain, with handball once again at the forefront, with 11 male teams and six female teams taking part in the competition.

26 sports and 45 nations were represented at this edition of the Asian Youth Games, with handball being one of the five team sports which took place.

The men’s competition saw the 11 teams divided in two groups for the preliminary round, with one group of six teams and another group of five teams, with the top two sides in each group progressing to the semi-finals.

In Group A, Saudi Arabia were the dominating team with four wins out of four matches, as they finished on the first place, with the maximum number of points, thanks to wins against Maldives (71:7), Jordan (33:11), Hong Kong-China (43:16) and hosts Bahrein (33:27).

The second team qualified for the semi-finals was Bahrain, which delivered three wins, 36:12 against Hong Kong-China, 74:13 against Maldives and 32:20 against Jordan.

In Group B, Kuwait and the People’s Republic of China were the teams making it to the next round, with a three-way tie at the top of the group between the two sides and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran beat China, 20:17, while China beat Kuwait, 37:35, with everything decided in the last matchday of the preliminary round, when Kuwait took a 24:19 against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The three-way tie went to head-to-head goal difference, where Kuwait were at +3, China were at -1 and Iran finished at -2, missing out on a place in the semi-finals by a single goal, due to their five-goal loss against Kuwait.

In the semi-finals, Ahmed Al-Obaidi scored 11 goals for Saudi Arabia to lift them to a 32:24 win against the People’s Republic of China, while Kuwait edged out hosts Bahrain, by taking a narrow 23:21 win, where Abdullatif Salmin scored nine goals.

The final was nip and tuck and Al-Obaidi, who was also part of the Saudi team which finished 16th at the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, was the deciding factor. He scored 10 goals in Saudi Arabia’s 29:28 win, which saw them clinch the title in a crunch decider.

The bronze medal was secured by hosts Bahrain, which took a 32:28 win in the match against the People’s Republic of China.

The women’s competition saw seven teams battle for the title in a round-robin format. The team which clinched the title was the Islamic Republic of Iran, winner of all six matches, with a +61 goal difference.

The top two teams in the competition met in the first day, when the Islamic Republic of Iran took a 30:25 win over the People’s Republic of China, after China led at the break, 12:11.

Iran then went on to win against Uzbekistan, 27:24, Kazakhstan, 27:23, Thailand, 32:16, and sealed the title with a 37:21 win over Hong Kong-China.

China ended up on the second place, with five wins and a single loss, bouncing back after their first-day loss against Iran with a 33:15 win against Thailand, a 37:29 win over Uzbekistan, a 38:14 win over Hong Kong-China, a 35:30 win over Kazakhstan and, finally, a 39:22 win over India.

Kazakhstan finished third, two points ahead of Uzbekistan, thanks to the 31:23 win in the mutual encounter.

Credit photo: Asian Handball Federation