The 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games handball competition has concluded after nine days of action (13-21 November) at ‘Green Halls’ in the Prince Faisal bin Fahad Olympic Complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Türkiye’s women retained their 2022 title, while Bahrain’s men took their first-ever gold.

World championship-bound Kazakhstan win women’s silver

The women’s preliminary group stage saw Türkiye win all three of their games to finish top of group A and Kazakhstan finish top of group B. This set-up semi-finals for Türkiye against Kazakhstan and Iran against Uzbekistan.

Türkiye saw off the Uzbek side clearly (39:22), to set up a final against the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship-bound Kazakhstan, who defeated Iran. Iran went on to take bronze, seeing off Uzbekistan.

The final was a back-and-forth affair with both teams exchanging blows in the opening 16 minutes (6:6), but Türkiye were in the middle of a 7:1 scoring run and opened up a five-goal lead (12:7) shortly after (22nd minute). However, Kazakhstan then went on their own unanswered goal run, bringing it level (12:12) just before the break.

The second half saw an extremely tight contest right up until the 54th minute when the European side, led by two strikes each from Seval Bozova and Bugu Sonmez, went up 31:28 (56th minute) and Kazakhstan could not come back. Zhanerke Seitkassym was the leading goalscorer in the final, with nine strikes for the Asian side.

Qatar lose grip on title as Bahrain win gold

With three wins out of three in each of their groups Qatar (group A) and Saudi Arabia (B) topped their groups to set up semi-finals against Bahrain and United Arab Emirates in the semi-finals.

And after dominating their group, Qatar were brought down to earth in the semi-finals, Bahrain pulling two goals clear in the 57th minute to ensure a gold or silver and push Qatar into the bronze medal match, where they saw off the UAE.

The final was a repeat of the preliminary group game between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which the Saudi side had won 27:21, but this time, Bahrain stepped up, taking a 33:31 victory after opening a four-goal lead with two minutes remaining, Mohamed Mohamed top-scoring with 10 goals in the game.

The medal is the first-ever for Bahrain’s men in the event, with all four editions featuring a different winner.

About the Islamic Solidarity Games

The Islamic Solidarity Games is a multi-disciplinary sports organisation under the supervision of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation, for nations who are members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The purpose of the Islamic Solidarity Games is to support the development of the athletes of the Islamic geography and strengthen comradery and solidarity among the athletes. In member states, non-Muslim citizens are also allowed to participate in the games.

Previous editions were staged in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2005, with handball featuring a men’s competition only, won by Algeria. The 2009/10 edition was cancelled and in 2013, they took place in Al Palembang, Indonesia but handball did not feature. Handball returned for Baku, Azerbaijan in 2017 and featured a women’s competition for the first time. Azerbaijan won that title on home soil, with Saudi Arabia winning the men’s title. 

The 2025 edition is taking place in capital city Riyadh and feature 3,000 athletes from 57 nations competing in 23 sports, including two para-sports. The event got underway on 4 November and concluded on Friday 21 November, the same day as the handball gold medal matches.

For full results visit the official website isg-2025.com. All games can be watched again on ANOC TV (free, but login required), HERE.

Handball at the 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games

Final Rankings

Women’s competition
1 TUR
2 KAZ
3 IRI
4 UZB
5 GUI
6 AZE
7 MDV

Men’s competition
1 BRN
2 KSA
3 QAT
4 UAE
5 IRI
6 KUW
7 IRQ
8 MDV

Results

Women’s competition

Preliminary Group
IRI-TUR 28:36
GUI-MDV 52:16
KAZ-UZB 36:28
IRI-GUI 23:21
TUR-MDV 63:13
UZB-AZE 28:26
IRI-MDV 49:13
TUR-GUI 36:24
KAZ-AZE 34:31

Semi-Final: TUR-UZB 39:22
Semi-Final: KAZ-IRI 29:26
Bronze medal match: UZB-IRI 25:29
Gold medal match: TUR-KAZ 34:31

Men’s competition

Preliminary Group
QAT-IRI 39:23
UAE-MDV 53:10
BRN-KUW 28:27
KSA-IRQ 33:21
QAT-UAE 41:24
IRI-MDV 57:14
KUW-IRQ 33:23
BRN-KSA 21:27
QAT-MDV 44:6
IRI-UAE 25:28
BRN-IRQ 33:21
KUW-KSA 20:21

Semi-Final: QAT-BRN 30:31
Semi-Final: KSA-UAE 29:15
Bronze medal match: QAT-UAE 36:28
Gold medal match: BRN-KSA 33:31

Photo credit: ISG2025