2008 Asian Men's Handball Championship

2008 Asian Championship
Tournament details
Host country	Iran
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	17–26 February
Teams	10 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	South Korea (7th title)
Runner-up	Kuwait
Third place	Saudi Arabia
Fourth place	Iran
Tournament statistics
Matches played	27
Goals scored	1,563 (57.89 per match)
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The 2008 Asian Men's Handball Championship was the 13th Asian Championship, which was taking place from 17 to 26 February 2008 in Isfahan, Iran. The championship was held in Isfahan's Pirouzi Arena and acted as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship in Croatia.

Draw

Group A	Group B
Kuwait Iran Bahrain China Lebanon	South Korea Qatar Japan United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+3:30).

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kuwait	4	3	1	122	109	+13	6
Iran (H)	4	3	1	137	122	+15	6
Bahrain	4	3	1	129	113	+16	6
China	4	1	3	113	131	−18	2
Lebanon	4	0	4	102	128	−26	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

17 February 2008 16:00	Iran	36–28	China	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Chernega, Poladenko (RUS)
		(19–15)

17 February 2008 20:00	Kuwait	26–24	Bahrain	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Kolahdouzan, Karbaschi (IRI)
		(12–8)

18 February 2008 16:00	Bahrain	37–26	Lebanon	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Qasqas, Bani Hani (JOR)
		(18–11)

18 February 2008 20:00	Kuwait	33–28	China	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Vakula, Ludovik (UKR)
		(20–8)

19 February 2008 16:00	Iran	34–27	Lebanon	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Lu, Chen (CHN)
		(16–15)

20 February 2008 14:30	Kuwait	29–22	Lebanon	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Jonid, Honish (SYR)
		(14–12)

20 February 2008 18:30	Bahrain	35–29	China	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Chernega, Poladenko (RUS)
		(17–15)

21 February 2008 16:00	Iran	32–33	Bahrain	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Vakula, Ludovik (UKR)
		(20–12)

22 February 2008 16:30	China	28–27	Lebanon	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Jonid, Honish (SYR)
		(16–14)

22 February 2008 20:30	Kuwait	34–35	Iran	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Chernega, Poladenko (RUS)
		(18–15)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	4	4	0	0	131	105	+26	8
Saudi Arabia	4	2	1	1	120	113	+7	5
Qatar	4	2	0	2	113	122	−9	4
Japan	4	1	1	2	128	120	+8	3
United Arab Emirates	4	0	0	4	109	141	−32	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

17 February 2008 18:00	South Korea	36–27	United Arab Emirates	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Lu, Chen (CHN)
		(20–10)

17 February 2008 22:00	Japan	28–28	Saudi Arabia	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Vakula, Ludovik (UKR)
		(13–14)

18 February 2008 18:00	Qatar	30–29	United Arab Emirates	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Jonid, Honish (SYR)
		(12–14)

18 February 2008 22:00	South Korea	33–25	Japan	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Chernega, Poladenko (RUS)
		(18–12)

19 February 2008 18:00	Qatar	28–31	Saudi Arabia	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Kolahdouzan, Karbaschi (IRI)
		(12–17)

20 February 2008 16:30	South Korea	31–30	Saudi Arabia	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Vakula, Ludovik (UKR)
		(17–15)

20 February 2008 20:30	Japan	44–27	United Arab Emirates	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Dib, Haidar (LIB)
		(21–17)

21 February 2008 18:00	Qatar	32–31	Japan	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Dib, Haidar (LIB)
		(11–17)

22 February 2008 14:30	United Arab Emirates	26–31	Saudi Arabia	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Qasqas, Bani Hani (JOR)
		(13–17)

22 February 2008 18:30	South Korea	31–23	Qatar	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Kolahdouzan, Karbaschi (IRI)
		(14–9)

Placement 5th–10th

9th/10th

24 February 2008 14:00	Lebanon	25–38	United Arab Emirates	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Lu, Chen (CHN)
		(13–18)

7th/8th

25 February 2008 14:30	China	35–38	Japan	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Jonid, Honish (SYR)
		(15–22)

5th/6th

25 February 2008 17:00	Bahrain	0–10	Qatar	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Kolahdouzan, Karbaschi (IRI)
		(Walkover)

* Bahrain didn't not show up and was penalized to the last place.

Final round

Semifinals		Gold medal match

24 February – Isfahan

Kuwait	32
		26 February – Isfahan
Saudi Arabia	29
		Kuwait	21
24 February – Isfahan
		South Korea	27
South Korea	33

Iran	24
		Bronze medal match

		26 February – Isfahan

		Saudi Arabia	24

		Iran	23

Semifinals

24 February 2008 16:30	Kuwait	32–29	Saudi Arabia	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Vakula, Ludovik (UKR)
		(16–14)

24 February 2008 19:00	South Korea	33–24	Iran	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Chernega, Poladenko (RUS)
		(13–12)

Bronze medal match

26 February 2008 14:30	Saudi Arabia	24–23	Iran	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Vakula, Ludovik (UKR)
		(13–12)

Gold medal match

26 February 2008 17:00	Kuwait	21–27	South Korea	Pirouzi Arena, Isfahan Referees: Chernega, Poladenko (RUS)
		(9–15)

Final standing

Rank	Team
	South Korea
	Kuwait
	Saudi Arabia
4	Iran
5	Qatar
6	Japan
7	China
8	United Arab Emirates
9	Lebanon
10	Bahrain

	Team qualified for the 2009 World Championship

All-star team

Goalkeeper: Yousef Al-Fadhli (KUW)
Left wing: Yu Dong-geun (KOR)
Left back: Rahim Momenizadeh (IRI)
Pivot: Abdullah Al-Theyab (KUW)
Centre back: Bandar Al-Harbi (KSA)
Right back: Park Wong-chul (KOR)
Right wing: Hussain Al-Ekhwan (KSA)