New Delhi: South Korea successfully retained its title in the sixth Asian youth handball championship that concluded here at the IG Indoor Stadium on Thursday. In a thrilling encounter Korea beat Japan 27-21 to stamp its superiority at the continental level.

In fact Korea and Japan are the two teams that have been fighting for title in the past editions, and the other leading handball playing nations including China haven't been able to break that custom.

Korea's race for the trophy began early in contest, as they kept on moving the scoreboard in their favour. However, strong Japanese girls didn't lose hope and fought back. Japan trailed Korea 11-14 in the first half.
The pace in the second half was also fast, both the teams made inroads into the rival territory but goals eluded them. At times in the second session, determined Japanese girls looked like threatening Korea's bastion, but it wasn't their day.

On the other hand, Korea must considered themselves luck. Psychological advantage gained by the Koreans in the initial stages of the match, in fact it was decisive factor in winning the tournament.

In a play-off match for third place, China outplayed Kazakhstan to take home bronze medal. China dominated the first half, but had a narrow one point lead at the end of first half (14-13). Eventual winners however, faced no opposition in the second half. In fact, half-way through the second session, the score-board read 20-15 in favour of China. It was enough evidence of its domination.

To ensure the rivals don't catch up, the agile Chinese girls increased the pace to put it beyond the reach of the Kazakhstan. The final score 32-25 was in favour of China.

China 32 (Yang Feng 8, Chan Liu 7, Lin Yang 6) bt Kazakhastan 25 (Yekaterina Usmanova 9, Tansholpan Jumadilova 5

Hon'ble Chaudhary Birender Singh, Unior Minister for Rural Development declared the closing of this event. Anandeshwar Pandey, Secretary General Handball Federation of India thanked all the teams, participants and officials.

Match Sheets are attached herewith. Photos will follow in next mail.