Pak team off to China for Asian Beach Handball Championship

KARACHI: Eyeing a spot in the World Beach Games, Pakistan handball team on Wednesday night flew out of Islamabad for China to feature in the Asian Beach Handball Championship being held from June 15-24 at Wiehai, China.

The event serves as the qualifiers for both World Beach Games and World Beach Handball Championship. The winners will make it to the World Beach Games to be held in San Diego in October. The three leading sides will qualify for the World Beach Handball Championship to be held in Italy next year.

As many as 12 outfits are participating in the China event which have been placed in two groups. Pakistan are in Group B with the last edition’s runners-up Oman, last edition’s bronze medallists Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

The Group A carries defending champions Qatar, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Afghanistan. Two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals to be held on June 22 and 24.

Pakistan did not participate in Asian Beach Handball Championship 2017. Pakistan are the bronze medallists of the last Asian Beach Games held in Vietnam in 2016.

Pakistan will begin their journey in China on June 15 with a match against Thailand. They play against Saudi Arabia on June 16, Oman on June 17, Iran on June 19 and Japan on June 20. Pakistan Handball Federation's (PHF) president Mohammad Shafiq said that the team has prepared well. “The team is in good form but the competition is very tough in Pool B as Iran and Oman are too strong, ranked eighth and tenth in the last World Beach Handball Championship,” Shafiq said.

“We hope we will be on victory stand as per our previous record,” he said. Squad: Shahid Pervez, Hazrat Hussain, Asif Ali, Asim Saeed, Imran Khan, Uzair Atif (C), Maaz Ali, Muzammil Hussain, Tahir Ali.