Thailand takes gold at international beach handball tournament

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Thailand’s female handball team came up trumps on home turf as they edged Vietnam to win the gold medal at the Asia Beach Handball Championship, held at Jomtien Beach from May 8-15.

Thailand’s victorious women’s beach handball team pose with the champions’ trophy at Jomtien Beach, May 15.
Thailand’s victorious women’s beach handball team pose with the champions’ trophy at Jomtien Beach, May 15.

The tournament, which featured both male and female teams, attracted representative squads from 11 Asian countries, including Qatar, Oman, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Taipei, China, and Thailand.

The Thai girls won all three of their final group games, beating Vietnam and Taiwan by 2 sets to 0 and China by 2 sets to 1.  Taipei took the bronze behind Thailand and Vietnam in the women’s competition while three time defending champions Qatar went undefeated again and earned the gold in the men’s division, ahead of Oman and Iran in silver and bronze medal positions respectively.  All top six finishing teams will go forward to represent Asia at the World Beach Handball Championships in Russia in 2018.