MANAMA: The Kuwaiti handball team began its campaign in the 21st Asian Championship by defeating the Omani team 27-26 on Friday. The Kuwaiti team snatched the victory in the last second of the match, held at Khalifa Sports Hall in Manama, capital of Bahrain. The first half of the match ended with the Kuwaiti team leading by a score of (13-11).

Kuwait national team player Hassan Safar was chosen and honored as the best player in the match. The Qatari national team, the defending champion, won over Chinese Taipei with a score of 33-26 for the first group, which also includes Kuwait and Oman, and the Iranian national team defeated New Zealand with a score of 40-13 among the teams in the second group of the tournament, which also includes the Chinese and South Korean teams.

The Kuwaiti national team is scheduled to play against its Chinese counterpart, Taipei, next Sunday at one o’clock in the afternoon local time. Sixteen teams are participating in the tournament, which began yesterday, and were divided into four groups. The first includes the teams of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and China Taipei, and the second group consists of the teams of Iran, South Korea, China, and New Zealand. The third group includes the teams of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, India, and Japan, and the fourth consists of Bahrain, the Emirates, Hong Kong, and Kazakhstan. — KUNA