TEHRAN – Iran will start the 20th edition of the Asian Men’s Handball Championship with a match against Australia on January 18.
Team Melli is scheduled to face India in Group B on January 19.
Iran will meet host Saudi Arabia on January 20 in its last group stage match.
South Korea is in Group A along with Kuwait, Jordan and Singapore.
Defending champion Qatar is drawn with the UAE, Iraq and Oman in Group C.
Group D consists of Bahrain, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The competition was supposed to be held with 18 teams but Thailand and Japan withdrew from the event.
The 2022 Men’s Handball Championship will be held in Dammam, Saudi Arabia from January 18 to 31.
It also acts as a qualification tournament for the 2023 World Men’s Handball Championship, with top five teams from the championship directly qualifying for the event to be jointly hosted by Poland and Sweden.