The Sultanate of Oman national handball team is gearing up to take part at the 20th edition of Men’s Asian Handball championship in Saudi Arabia from January 18 to 31.
The Asian event acts as a qualifier to the 2023 World Men’s Handball Championship which will be held jointly in Poland and Sweden from January 11 to 29, 2023. The top five teams in the Asian tourney will secure spots in the World Championship.
The team is currently in Iran for an overseas camp under the watchful eyes of the Algerian head coach Murad Bu Sabt. As part of the intensive preparatory program, the team will play more preparatory games in the camp against Iran national team and local clubs. Two friendly matches ended in the last few days as the national team suffered a 29-33 loss against Asfahan club and another defeat from Dhobahan club by 26-27.
During the external camp, the coaching staff are working to finalise the kick off list ahead of the Asian championship. Also, the head coach Murad Bu Sabt and his assistant coach Nabil Al Balushi will aim to test many players during the forthcoming preparatory fixtures.
The camp will provide more opportunities for the players who did not take part in the previous friendlies and the coach will evaluate their technical performance. The team was supposed to take part in the GCC Games in Kuwait but the Gulf event was postponed from January to May due to the new Covid (Omicron) infection surges.
The teams which will take part at the Men’s Asian Handball championship in Saudi Arabia were divided into four groups and each group will feature four teams. The Sultanate of Oman placed in group C along with the defending champion Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
South Korea is placed in group A beside Kuwait, Jordan and Singapore. The hosts Saudi Arabia will play against Iran, Australia and India in group B. Group D is comprised of Japan, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
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