Asian Championship: Nine teams compete for the title of continental champion and three tickets to the World Championship
Until 21 February, the nine best Asian national teams are still competing to become the next continental champion at the Asian Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
At the same time the tournament marks an important milestone on the way to the next World Championship: a place on the rostrum guarantees one of the three available tickets as Asia's representative to the 2007 men´s title contests in Germany.
After Saudi Arabia having cancelled its participation at short notice, the tournament is carried out with two groups of four and five teams. The teams ranked first and second in each group will enter the semi-finals. The last matches of the preliminary round will take place on 17 February, whereas the decision about the tickets to the World Championship and the new continental champion will be made on 21 February. The 2005 Men's World Championship in Tunisia saw Kuwait, Japan and Qatar as Asian representatives.
The results so far and in detail:
Group A:
Kuwait – Bahrain 32:30
Thailand – Jordan 24:45
Bahrain – South Korea 31:40
Kuwait – Jordan 28:25
Thailand – South Korea 15:47
Bahrain – Jordan 27:26
Kuwait – South Korea 27:25
Ranking:
1. Kuwait 3 3 0 0 87:80 6:0
2. South Korea 3 2 0 1 112:73 4:2
3. Jordan 3 1 0 2 96:79 2:4
4. Bahrain 3 1 0 2 88:98 2:4
5. Thailand 2 0 0 2 39:92 0:4
16.02.: Thailand – Bahrain, Jordan – South Korea
17.02.: Kuwait – Thailand
Group B:
Japan – Iran 25:28
Qatar – Iran 21:20
Qatar – China 28:14
Japan – China 38:20
Ranking:
1. Qatar 2 2 0 0 49:34 4:0
2. Japan 2 1 0 1 63:48 2:2
3. Iran 2 1 0 1 48:46 2:2
4. China 2 0 0 2 34:66 0:4
17.02.: Japan – Qatar, Iran – China
Semi-finals:
19.02.: First Group A – Second Group B, First Group B – Second Group A
Placement matches:
20.02.: Matches for places 9,7,5
Medal matches:
21.02.: Match for third place, final
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