Asia Handball Championship begins with fierce competition

By Khalil Hareb in Amman
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-02-13

[ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images] Saudi Arabia, seen above in a recent game, made it to the 2nd round of the Asia Men's Handball Championship 2010.

The fight is on at the Asia Men's Handball Championship 2010. On February 6th, 12 teams began competing in Beirut, Lebanon to be one of three medallists who'll head directly to the Handball World Championship in Sweden in January 2011. Iran and Lebanon started off on the right track as did Syria and Saudi Arabia. All four teams already made it to the second round. They are followed by Japan, South Korea, Bahrain and Qatar. On Thursday (February 11th), Japan beat Bahrain, but both teams have qualified from Group B.

So far China, Iraq, the UAE and Jordan have lost and exited the championship early. On Wednesday (February 10th), Group D member Iran played Lebanon and won 25-16, even though both teams have already qualified for the second round. In Group A competition Saudi Arabia defeated China and qualified along with Syria which defeated the Chinese 28-21 on Tuesday.

In Kuwait basketball action, Kuwait SC crushed Arabi 90-77 on Wednesday. This victory gives Kuwait SC the lead in the league with 32 points. Qadsia humiliated Nasar 93-60. Yarmouk fell at home to Kazma 82-59. In other action, Salmiyah lost to Shabab 75-54. This is the second time they've let down their fans. The first was during an 85-66 rout by Arabi on Sunday.

In other basketball news, Egypt joins Group A for the men's FIBA U17 World Championship. The only Arab representative will have a daunting task in the Iron Group, which includes tough competition from the US, Lithuania, Serbia, Argentina and China. The championship will be held in Germany from July 2-11.

In Jordanian football Faisaly regained the top spot from Wihdat after beating Jazeera 2-1 on February 7th. Faisaly now leads the league with 37 points, with Wihdat trailing by one point in second place. Faisaly started the game strong, scoring after only 11 minutes. Jazeera tied things up two minutes later when Faisaly's Mohamed Mounir knocked the ball into his own goal. Faisaly then had to scramble in order to secure the victory. Five minutes before the first half ended, Faisaly scored the magic goal thanks to star Khaled Saad.

In Egypt's heated football clashes, Zamalek moved up to fifth place after beating Enppi 2-0. Zamalek started this season looking sickly, losing almost all their games. But after replacing French coach Henri Michel with former Egyptian superstar Hossam Hassan, they're back to winning and thrilling White Knights fans.

Elsewhere in Egypt, Ahly tasted defeat for the first time this season, losing to Ghazl Mahalla 2-0. But even after this loss, the Red Devils still lead the league with 35 points. Mahalla attacked from the first minute, taking advantage of home field in front of screaming fans. They were able to use that energy to gain the three points and send the Red Devils to an unusual defeat.

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