Oman blank Hong Kong to secure slot in Asian quarters
Oman's national beach handball team secured their second straight win at the underway Asian Beach Handball Championship in Muscat following their triumph over Hong Kong by 2-0 in Group A on Thursday night. The tournament which is taking place at the sands court at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex acts as Qualifiers for the 2026 IHF Beach Handball World Championships in Morocco and Oman team will eye to secure one of the two direct tickets to the global event.
The victory over Hong Kong took Oman to the quarterfinals of the Asian event. According to the playing format of this championship in Muscat, after the teams in each group have played each other, the top four in each will move through directly to the quarterfinals on Monday and subsequent semifinals are scheduled on Tuesday while the final on Thursday. Oman team will play their final group match on Sunday against Saudi Arabia in a tight clash.
Oman team, coached by Hamood al Hasani, are one of the favourites in this tournament with the home support. Furthermore, 2025 marks the fourth time for Muscat city to host the event, following the inaugural event in 2004, the third edition in 2011 and the fifth in 2015.
Oman head coach Hamood al Hasani affirmed that Oman team is developing from one match to another. 'We have the excitement and clear target in this event. The first focus is to deliver our best performance in the group stage matches. Then, we will prepare for the forthcoming matches in the next phases of the tournament,' he added.
In the other group games, Philippines tasted their first victory in the tournament after two defeats against Pakistan and Jordan as they beat India by 2-0 in a thriller in Group B. Jordan earned another victory with a 2-1 win over Pakistan while Iran beat India by 2-0.
In the women's competition category actions which started on Thursday, Vietnam started their campaign on a positive note following their victory over India by 2–0 while the Philippines stunned Hong Kong 2–1 after a closely contested match which ended in a 1–1 draw and then decided by a penalty shoot-out for Philippines.
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