07-05-2025
10th Handball Championship inaugurated with participation of nine Arab teams
Kuwait Blue team begin with a winning start
KUWAIT: On Monday, the 10th Arab Handball Championship, hosted by Kuwait, was inaugurated at Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Sports Complex, with the participation of nine Arab teams.
The opening ceremony, held under the patronage of Minister of Information and Culture, Minister of State for Youth Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi, included laser shows by youth groups and artist musical show presented by Hamoud Al-Khodr welcoming the participating teams.
Kuwaiti handball team took its first steps to the semifinals in the tenth Arab men's handball team championships 'Arab Cup' after beating the Moroccan team 39-29 in the match between the two teams played on Monday in the opening round of the group stage of the tournament.
Kuwait guard Hassan Safar was awarded the best player of the match. The result of the two other matches also held Monday in the first round resulted in Bahrain beating Iraq 28-26 and Qatar beating Saudi Arabia 31-22. Thus, the blue (Kuwait) topped the third group with two points and Morocco remained pointless, as well as Bahrain won the two points topped its first group. Qatar also obtained the first two points in the second group race and the Saudi team remained empty-handed.
Laser shows from youth groups.
Today's matches
Three matches will be held today in the third and final round of the group stage, the most prominent of which is at seven in the evening between the teams of Kuwait and the UAE, preceded by two matches, where at 3 pm Saudi Arabia meet with Tunisia and at 5 pm Bahrain plays against Egypt.
An important return to the tournament
For his part, Acting Director General of the Public Authority for Sport, Bashar Abdullah, after attending the ceremony representing the sponsor of the tournament, stressed that the return of this Arab championship in Kuwait after a long absence is an important matter for Arab handball, wishing all participating teams success.
Abdullah said in a statement to reporters after attending the opening ceremony that Kuwait's hosting of the tournament is an implementation of the authority's strategy to organize major tournaments in the country, praising the distinguished organization by the Organizing Committee and the Arab Handball Federation of the tournament.
Thanking political leadership
For his part, President of the Arab Handball Federation of Saudi Arabia, Fadel Al-Nimr, thanked the political leadership in Kuwait, led by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Kuwait government and the people for this generous hosting of the tournament, which is the second for Kuwait after 46 years.
In his speech at the opening of the tournament, Al-Nimr also appreciated Minister Al-Mutairi's patronage of the tournament and the diligent efforts of the Kuwait Handball Federation to organize it professionally, which is not surprising for Kuwait, which possesses outstanding sports and administrative competencies, expressing his happiness that this tournament coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Arab Handball Federation in 1975. He stressed that the Arab Federation, throughout its history, has organized many championships at several levels for men, women, teams, clubs and several age groups with the aim of developing the game, adding that the Federation will continue to organize Arab sports championships to make further progress in this game.
The organization of the Arab Handball Cup in Kuwait was praised by the heads of Arab federations and officials of the Asian Handball Federation, where everyone agreed on the good professional organization by the Higher Organizing Committee and the committees working in the tournament, which confirms Kuwait's position and experience in hosting such major tournaments.
