Handball 2021 Discussion Thread

[MHSN 3,624]

I just finished watching the 2021 Asian Women's Handball Championship draw

 

Group A)

Group B)

 

no China! (and no PRK obviously) also some mediocre teams like Thailand, Vietnam and Australia didn't participate

 

but since JPN and KOR finished in top 12 of the last WCh, Asia will have 6 quotas available that means we will have at least 2 debutantes at the world stage. JPN, KOR and KAZ will grab 3 of those quotas for sure, UZB also once participated at the World Championship and I believe they will pick one of those 3 remaining quotas.

 

Jordan as host had the right to pick Group A or B (what a stupid rule) and they picked B.

 

another thing, per IHF rules, with 6 quotas available, 12 teams MUST participate at the continental Championships. so if one team withdraws, Asia will lose one of its quotas. (I don't know to who? another wild card probably)

[Federer91 2,797]

Iran and Afghanistan fielding women's teams is very interesting (at least for my uneducated persona). Not the 2 nations you would associate with women's sports, even less so team ones.  

[MHSN 3,624]

4 hours ago, Federer91 said:

Iran and Afghanistan fielding women's teams is very interesting (at least for my uneducated persona). Not the 2 nations you would associate with women's sports, even less so team ones.  

then let me tell you how uneducated you are. this is the 7th times in a row that Iran is sending a team to the Asian Women's Handball Championship. only Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea are doing it for the 7th consecutive times.

 

Iran send teams regularly to the Asian Championships almost in all team sports.

 

as for Afghanistan, women's sport is very new there. but they started sending teams. even though I'm afraid we won't see them in international competition from 2022 or max 2023 when the beloved Taliban takes over of everything. probably not even their men's teams.

[Gianlu33 4,574]

Italy won his 1st U19 ECh match ever  26-28 against Serbia, this is an amazing year for Italian youth handball!

[heywoodu 15,145]

On 8/11/2021 at 11:51 PM, MHSN said:

as for Afghanistan, women's sport is very new there. but they started sending teams. even though I'm afraid we won't see them in international competition from 2022 or max 2023 when the beloved Taliban takes over of everything. probably not even their men's teams.

I guess this can be changed to right now...don't think there's a big chance the team made it out of Afghanistan towards Jordan already?

[MHSN 3,624]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

I guess this can be changed to right now...don't think there's a big chance the team made it out of Afghanistan towards Jordan already?

wow I can't believe I wrote that 5 days ago, it feels like 2 years ago

 

no chance, they already withdrew from the Paralympics. and those girls should be careful for their lives. (if they already didn't leave the country) their Olympics female flagbearer Kimia Yousufi already fled to Iran. (where she born and grew up)

 

Taliban "claims" they are different this time but a wise person doesn't trust them at all. I highly doubt we will see Afghan female athletes anymore (and most probably even male athletes)

[heywoodu 15,145]

48 minutes ago, MHSN said:

wow I can't believe I wrote that 5 days ago, it feels like 2 years ago

 

no chance, they already withdrew from the Paralympics. and those girls should be careful for their lives. (if they already didn't leave the country) their Olympics female flagbearer Kimia Yousufi already fled to Iran. (where she born and grew up)

 

Taliban "claims" they are different this time but a wise person doesn't trust them at all. I highly doubt we will see Afghan female athletes anymore (and most probably even male athletes)

Tragic...'good' to see at least Yousufi managed to get out in time, as far as there's anything 'good' in all of this  

[MHSN 3,624]

7 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Tragic...'good' to see at least Yousufi managed to get out in time, as far as there's anything 'good' in all of this  

I don't think they are in danger "right now" (and by right now, I mean NOW, nobody knows about tomorrow) Taliban tries to look nice, they won't do anything super crazy for now. one of their guys even had an interview with a female host in a local TV. (this probably sounds pretty normal to you but this is way above Taliban's standards)

 

I try to think positive, maybe they are smarter this time but still from what I hear from people who knows Taliban better than me (I mean people with first hand experiences), most of them believe this is just the start, they will do their normal Taliban thing when they settle. so yes if I was a female athlete in Afghanistan I would leave the country when I still have the chance. but it's not as easy as that. Yousufi was probably in a big danger, she was their only female athlete in past 2 Olympics, and they knew her very well but she was born in Iran, she had a "home" to go. most of them don't.

 

this probably explains how Afghan female athletes feel right now, the "world" told them to be brave and the same world abandoned them. most athletes wish to be famous, to become famous. but right now I guess nobody wants to be a famous athlete in Afghanistan.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/afghanistan-soccer-cry-for-help-amid-government-collapse-1.6142728

[MHSN 3,624]

end of preliminary round at the Asian Championships made it to the semifinal and therefore qualified for the World Championship in Spain. there will one more quota for the 5th place team.

 

this will be the first time in history that Iran qualifies for a Women's World Championship in an Olympic team sport. yeah they had a very easy group and only had to beat Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and Palestine but still this is something historic considering all limitations women are facing here unfortunately. I don't think they will finish last in Spain I believe they can beat 2 or 3 teams there.

[thepharoah 2,405]

 Magdeburg surprisingly wins Super Globe after defeating Barcelona in the final 33-28