Vietnam women and host nation Oman’s men have won the 2025 AHF Men’s and Women’s Asian Beach Handball Championships held at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher, Muscat.

The 10th edition of the continental event took place from Tuesday 6 May, running all the way through until Thursday 15 May and featured 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.

IHF President, Dr Hassan Moustafa, was present in Muscat, supporting the players, coaches, teams and event as well as attending a number of meetings on the sidelines.

Vietnam women continue their winning streak

Vietnam won their third continental gold in a row (after 2022 and 2023) and sixth podium spot in a row (2015 - bronze, 2017 - silver, 2019 - silver, 2022 - gold, 2023 gold, 2025 gold) as they won all six games of their double round-robin group of four teams, also included Philippines, India and Hong Kong, China.

The Vietnamese side ended with a plus points total of 121, on 12 points, with Philippines finishing in second on eight points (+27), followed by India (2, -79) and Hong Kong, China (2, -69).

“With a country which has such long beaches, the conditions for us to play beach handball is very easy,” explained Vietnam captain Hà Thị Hạnh to ihf.info about the secret to their success. “Although we Vietnamese are small, we have a strong will, so to win three consecutive championships, we have tried very hard to practice every day to get the results we have today.”

Teammate Ngoc Trinh echoed her captain’s thoughts.

“Honestly, we don’t have any secret,” she said, to ihf.info. “We just practice hard and learn new things every day. We don’t miss any training session even if the weather is bad or the conditions are not suitable for training – we always find a way to overcome it, so, maybe, this is why we have won it three times in a row.”

Trinh also took time out to praise the long-time coach of the side, Ngon Huynh Minh. “We are very grateful to have our coach, Mr. Ngon Huynh Minh, leading us. He has helped us a lot to get the results, and let’s not also forget the hard work and effort of my teammates, I am very proud of them. I am very grateful and happy for this historic victory. We have worked very hard to achieve this worthy result.”

Oman men return to gold, 21 years after debut top spot

The men’s competition, featuring debutants Maldives and Jordan, saw nine teams split into two initial preliminary groups with Oman winning group A, thanks to three wins from their three games and the Islamic Republic of Iran taking group B with four wins from four. Jordan impressed, winning three of their four games, while India finished bottom to confirm ninth place.

The remaining teams went through to the quarter-finals with the host nation pushed all the way by the Philippines, with the game going to a shoot-out after the home side won the first set (19:18) but lost the second (16:18). However, for the Philippines, the shoot-out was one to forget as they missed three shots in a row to hand the Omani’s a 5:0 and overall 2-1 win. Iran, Pakistan and Jordan all won their last eight matches to confirm the final four.

Both semi-finals saw clear wins, for Iran against Pakistan (15:9, 16:12) and Oman against Jordan (19:8, 12:10). 

In the placement games Maldives registered their own piece of history, securing their first-ever continental victory, thanks to a 2-1 (14:22, 21:17, SO 9:8) win over Hong Kong, China to finish seventh, while Philippines saw off Saudi Arabia to finish fifth. Pakistan and Jordan battled it out for bronze and it went to a shoot-out which saw both teams miss two shots each. After Jordan’s Ahmad Mohammad al-Otabi missed his shot, it was down to Muzammal Hussain to secure the single-point for victory, which he did.

With the continental powerhouse of Qatar not present this time around, the final between Iran and Oman would see a new winner crowned for the just the second time in the previous eight editions, but it was not to be 2022 winners Iran as the home side secured goal with a 21:18, 14:10 win, led by 12 points from specialist Asad Alhasani. However, with Oman goalkeeper Hudhaifa Alsiyabi named as the best player of the match, it showed just how hard Iran fought.

The result was the first gold medal for Oman in the event since their 2004 victory in the event, also held in Muscat.

Philippines continuing their upward trajectory

With such a continental record behind them Vietnam women now look set to continue their domination on the Asian sand, but coming up close behind them, and finishing second for the second, successive event, are the Philippines.

In the last edition, held in 2023, Vietnam defeated the Philippines twice with an overall 75-35 points score, but this time around, even though they won twice again, the points difference was just 86-72. And this vast improvement from the Philippine women is welcomed by players Ngoc Trinh and Ha Thi Hanh.

“The fact that the Philippine team is close to us, is a good thing,” explained Hanh. “We need to change our mindset about the training process to develop the team further, see what is not good and try harder.”

“They are a team full of potential and one of our competitors,” added Trinh about the Philippines. “They are developing very well physically and professionally. We are still trying to improve too and we are lucky to be able to compete with them as it helps us learn and improve our skills.

“Retaining the championship is much harder than winning it so we will continue to try our best and learn new things through each different event.”

For Jana Franquelli, Head Team Coach for the Philippine Handball Federation (PHF), she is well-aware of the improvement of both her teams on the sand at continental level and wants more.

“We had new players for both our men’s and women’s teams so we had to adjust and give time for the new players to gain experience,” she explained to ihf.info. 

“For the women, we had three new players including two goalkeepers, so this is a good start for them. 
Our goal with them was to qualify for the world championship so coming in second was enough for now – we are happy with the results and will look to improve next year on our performances compared to the world championship last year.

“For the men’s side, we were in the tougher preliminary group and two of our games were decided via shoot-out. In the quarter-final against Oman, we lost by just point in the first period and won the second by two. 

“Overall, we are satisfied with how the teams played here in Oman and we hope to improve further.”

Find all the results and match reports at www.asianhandball.org and watch the finals on the OmaniSportsTV YouTube channel:

Final Rankings

Women’s competition
1 Vietnam*, 12 points +121
2 Philippines*, 8 points + 27
3 India, 2 points +79
4 Hong Kong, China, 2 points +69

Men’s competition
1 Oman*
2 Islamic Republic of Iran*
3 Pakistan
4 Jordan
5 Philippines
6 Saudi Arabia
7 Maldives
8 Hong Kong, China
9 India

*Qualified for the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships

Results

Women’s competition
IND v VIE 0-2
HKG v PHI 1-2
IND vs PHI 1-2
HKG v VIE 0-2
HKG v IND 0-2 17:20, 16:20
VIE v PHI 2-0
PHI v HKG 2-0
VIE v IND 2-0
VIE v HKG 2-0
IND v HKG 1-2 14:12, 14:18, 4:5
PHI v VIE 0-2

Results

Preliminary Group A
MDV v OMA 0-2
HKG v KSA 0-2
HKG v OMA 0-2
MDV v KSA 0-2
HKG v MDV 2-0
OMA v KSA 2-0

Preliminary Group B
PAK v PHI 2-1
JOR v PHI 2-1
PAK v IRI 0-2
PHI v IND 2-0
PAK v JOR 1-2
IND v IRI 0-2
IND v PAK 0-2
JOR v IRI 1-2
IRI v PHI 2-0
IND v JOR 0-2

Quarter-Finals
KSA v PAK 1-2
JOR v HKG 2-0
OMA v PHI 2-1
IRI v MDV 2-0

5-8 Placement Round
HKG v PHI 0-2
KSA v MDV 2-0

Semi-Finals
PAK v IRI 0-2 (15:9, 16:12)
JOR v OMA 0-2 (8:19, 10:12)

7/8 Placement
MDV v HKG 2-1 (14:22, 21:17, SO 9:8)

5/6 Placement
KSA v PHI 0-2

Bronze
PAK v JOR 2-1 (7:18, 16:11, SO 7:6) 

Final
IRI v OMA 0-2 (18:21, 10:14)