【Handball Men's Junior Japan National Team】The 19th Men's Junior Handball Asia Championship Approaches Opening; First Match Against the United Arab Emirates on July 15

Japanese Team Aims for Three-Peat at Championship

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The 19th Men's Junior Championship will open on July 15 (Wed) in Chuzhou City, Anhui Province, China. On July 10 (Fri), the Japanese national team (Under-21 Junior) gathered at the Ajinomoto National Training Center (Tokyo) and will head to China on July 12 (Sun) to prepare for their first match in the preliminary round of Group B against the United Arab Emirates on July 15.

Training at the Ajinomoto National Training Center before departure

Japan will compete against the other six teams in Group B in a round-robin league to determine their ranking, with the top four advancing to the main round (quarterfinals).

The schedule for the preliminary round is as follows:

【Japan's Preliminary Round Schedule】 ・July 15 (Wed) 18:00 (19:00 Japan time) vs United Arab Emirates ・July 16 (Thu) 18:00 (19:00 Japan time) vs India ・July 17 (Fri) 16:00 (17:00 Japan time) vs Qatar ・July 19 (Sun) 20:00 (21:00 Japan time) vs Kuwait ・July 20 (Mon) 17:00 (18:00 Japan time) vs Iran ・July 22 (Wed) 20:00 (21:00 Japan time) vs South Korea

Group B includes teams with rich achievements, such as South Korea (2nd place in the previous tournament, Japan won 32-27), Iran (5th place, Japan won 31-29), and Qatar (11th place, draw 25-25), who had a close battle with Japan in the previous tournament. Additionally, the preliminary round alone consists of 6 matches in 8 days, which is a tough schedule.

Nevertheless, with 13 players who advanced to the main round at the 11th IHF Men's Youth (U-19) World Championship last year (14th out of 32 teams) as the core, Japan, aiming for a three-peat, will continue to advance.

Since the opponents in the main round (quarterfinals) will also be affected by whether they advance to the first place and face the 4th place in Group A, or advance to the second place and face the 3rd place, they want to run through the preliminary round with a better ranking while also paying attention to the pace towards the end of the tournament.

First, they aim to advance through the preliminary round, advance to the quarterfinals, and qualify for the 26th IHF Men's Junior (U-21) World Championship to be held in North Macedonia in 2027. At this tournament, the top 4 teams will be granted the right to participate in the World Championship.

With increasing momentum day by day, they will advance towards a three-peat at the tournament.

Please confirm the tournament information here.

Regarding the broadcast

Incidentally, live streaming of this tournament is scheduled. Details such as the broadcasting platform and broadcasting URL are currently being confirmed with the Asian Handball Federation. Once the information is confirmed, it will be announced on the official website and official SNS of the Japan Handball Association. Although the broadcast information may be announced just before the match, please be sure to check it out.