KSA defeats China, stays unbeaten in 17th Asian handball championship

MANAMA, Bahrain: Saudi Arabia beat China 34-20 on Thursday to take second place in the Group B preliminary round of the 17th Asian Men’s Championship.
Bahrain leads the group with four wins after defeating Iran 27-16, and UAE is third by virtue of a 27-23 victory over Libya. China and Libya have remained winless after four games each.
Saudi Arabia has 3 wins and a draw, having tied with UAE on Sunday. The Saudi team beat Iran during the opening day and went on to vanquish Libya on Tuesday. UAE suffered its only loss in the hands of Bahrain on Tuesday.
In Group A, Qatar leads after staying unbeaten in three games since the event opened on January 15.
South Korea and Japan are tied at 1 win and 1 loss each, Oman has 1 win and 1 loss, while Syria lost all two games.
Scheduled to clash Friday are Oman and Japan and Korea and Syria.
The main round is scheduled on January 25 and the finals on January 28, with the champion to automatically qualify for the 2017 Men’s World Handball Championship in France.