Muscat: The Oman national junior beach handball team began their daily training at the sand courts of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher as part of the preparation programme to take part in the third Asian Juniors Beach Handball Championship for men and women.
Bangkok, Thailand capital, will host the Asian championship from October 16 to 25 with the participation of 7 teams including: Sultanate of Oman, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, China, Indonesia and hosts Thailand. The top three will qualify for the third Juniors Beach Handball World Cup finals, which will take place in Tunisia from June 17 to 22.
Jaber al Balushi, national team coach, currently selected 20 players to be reduced to 13 players to enter first camp which will be held from September 26 to 28, and 10 players will enter the second camp from October 3 to 6, then will head to Thailand for external camp from October 6 to 14, during which they will play 5 friendly matches.
Oman junior team will start the Asian Championship by meeting title holders Iran on October 16. The second match will be against Indonesia on October 17. Next match is against Thailand on October 19. The fourth match is against Jordan on October 20. Oman take on Qatar on October 23 and conclude with a match against China on October 25. All teams will play in a single-round league, the top three teams will advance to the World Cup finals in Tunisia 2025.
Dr Saeed bin Ahmed al Shihri, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oman Handball Association, met the players before training session, which was limited to the Muscat players due to the commitment of others to the new school year, to join the training on the weekend.
Al Shihri spoke to players about the importance of the first participating in the Asian Championship, and the opportunity to gain experience and interact with the participating teams.
Dr Saeed stressed “The association's Board of Directors is doing its utmost to provide all the facilities available with the aim of providing a good preparation base that will contribute to its appearance at an honourable level that reflects the extent of the development of beach handball in the Sultanate of Oman.”
“The senior Oman beach handball team is the second best team in the Asian continent, and has achieved many achievements and qualified for the Beach World Cup nine times. This is a moral incentive for the juniors to achieve honourable results in their first official appearance in the Asian Championship.”
Oman Squad: Mohammed al Hasani, Ali al Hasani, Abdulkarim al Hadidi, Al Khattab al Hasani, Harb al Hasani, Walid al Balushi, Wael al Balushi, Moataz al Mahrami, Hussain al Maawali, Munthir al Saadi, Loay al Sulaimani, Al Muwali al Busaidy, Rashid al Dughaishi, Saeed Ambusaidi, Elyas al Sulaimani, Majid al Ghailani, Mohammed al Shibli, Yazan al Buraiki, Al Baraa al Araimi, Salah al Ghailani.
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