The Saudi Arabia national handball team qualified for the junior level for the Croatia 2023 World Championship by beating the United Arab Emirates (37-27) today in the fourth round of the group stage of the ninth Asian Youth Championship, which is currently taking place. in the capital of Bahrain, Manama.
The Saudi team officially qualified for the World Cup and the semi-finals of the Asian Championship, reaching the eighth point, leading the group standings, beating Iraq (44-22), Qatar (27-24) and Kuwait (34-31). ), respectively.
In the first half, the result between the two teams converged until Al-Akhdar (10-9) progressed in the middle of the half before widening the difference in scoring in the last ten minutes and finishing the half with a score of 19-13.
The second half was no different from the previous one as the Saudi team managed to impose full control until the match ended in their favor by 10 goals (37-27) and Al-Akhdar player Ali Al-Maqqab received the award for the best match player.
This Junior World Championship qualification is the second ever for the Greens after he once attended the 2019 World Cup tournaments held in Macedonia, a unique achievement achieved for the first time in Saudi Arabian history. game and team games featuring the Saudi side in all three of its categories at the 2023 AD World Championships.
Player Hussain Freij registered his name as the first Saudi Arabian player to qualify for the World Cup with three teams “junior, youth and first” in the same year as no player had previously achieved this as he competed with the men’s team in Asian Championships in Dammam in January 2022 and Al-Akhdar won bronze. While he contributed to qualifying with the youth team at the Asian Championships held in Bahrain and Al-Akhdar qualified fourth and Frij completed his streak of accomplishments with his a great contribution to the qualification of the youth team through the Asian Championship, which is currently held in Bahrain.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabia Handball Federation Fadel Al-Nimr congratulated and blessed the people of Saudi Arabia and athletes in general, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Minister of Sports, President of the Olympic and Paralympic Committee and, in particular, His Highness Prince Fahd bin Jalawi for the support and follow-up of all federations, especially the Handball Federation and national teams.
Al-Nimr explained that this achievement is a series of game achievements, as the junior team completed the episode with their presence at the World Cup, similar to the men’s and youth teams, which is the first time in the history of the game with the participation of all teams at the World Championships and their qualification in one year , which confirms the hard work of the National Teams and Training Committee, is headed by board member Faher Al-Gashi, who works with the members of the committee with the support of the board members with all his efforts and determination to honor the country through the teams.
He added: “The junior team has earned the qualification due to its outstanding level, high discipline and consecutive victories as we have achieved the important thing – to qualify for the World Championship to be held in Croatia in 2023, and our next goal is to achieve a medal after reaching the semi-finals of the championship. Asia”.