Asian Handball Federation Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Asian Handball Federation AHF

Sport	Handball
Other Sports	Beach handball
History
Year of formation	26 August 1974; 50 years ago (1974-08-26) at Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
Demographics
Membership size	44 Members
Affiliations
International federation	International Handball Federation (IHF)
IHF member since	1974
Other affiliation(s)	Olympic Council of Asia
Governance
President	Yoshihide Watanabe (acting)
1st Vice-President	Yoshihide Watanabe
Secretariat
Address	South Surrah, Al-Salam Area, Block 7, Street No. 705, Villa 508
Country	Kuwait
Secretary General	Muhammad Shafiq
Official Language(s)	English (Official) Arabic (Also used for correspondences)
Number of staff	8
Finance
Sponsors	Al Kass Sports Channels SK Group Gerflor Molten Corporation
Regions
Western Asia Central Asia South Asia Southeast Asia East Asia

The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) is the main group that organizes handball and beach handball in Asia. It has 44 member countries. Most of these countries are in Asia. However, some countries that are partly in Europe and partly in Asia, like Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey, are part of the European Handball Federation instead. Also, Cyprus, Armenia, and Israel are members of the European group. Even though Hong Kong China and Macau are not independent countries, they are members of the AHF.

The AHF is one of six similar groups under the International Handball Federation (IHF). It officially started on August 26, 1974, in Tehran (Iran). This happened during the 7th Asian Games. The main office of the AHF is in Kuwait City (Kuwait). The current acting President is Yoshihide Watanabe from Japan, and the Secretary General is Muhammad Shafiq from Pakistan.

History of AHF
What AHF Does
Tournaments AHF Organizes
Current Champions
A Disagreement
Members
Sponsors

History of AHF

The Asian Handball Federation has a unique history because it has only had two presidents, and they were father and son!

The first president, Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, worked hard to get the federation started. In 1974, during the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran, he asked for handball to be included as an official sport. He also pushed for a new Asian handball group to be formed. He explained that handball was becoming very popular in Asia. The leaders of the Asian Games agreed. They asked Sheikh Fahad to be the temporary president and to help create the rules for the new federation. He got help from the Secretary General, Syed Abul Hassan, from Pakistan.

After Sheikh Fahad passed away in 1990, his son, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, took over as president in 1991. He led the AHF for many years. Currently, Yoshihide Watanabe is the acting President.

What AHF Does

The AHF helps organize and promote handball across Asia. It has different groups and people who work together to manage the sport. These groups help with things like:

Making sure games follow the rules.
Training coaches and referees.
Helping handball grow in countries where it's still developing.
Promoting handball to more people.

Tournaments AHF Organizes

The AHF organizes many exciting handball tournaments for different age groups and types of handball.

For Countries

Asian Men's Handball Championship
Asian Women's Handball Championship
Asian Men's Junior Handball Championship (for younger players)
Asian Women's Junior Handball Championship (for younger players)
Asian Men's Youth Handball Championship (for even younger players)
Asian Women's Youth Handball Championship (for even younger players)
Asian Games (handball is part of this big event)
Asian Youth Games

For Clubs

Asian Club League Handball Championship (where top clubs compete)
Asian Women's Club League Handball Championship

For Beach Handball

Asian Beach Handball Championship
Asian Youth Beach Handball Championship
Asian Beach Games

Regional Tournaments

Some tournaments are held for countries in specific parts of Asia:

West Asia: West Asian Women's Handball Championship, West Asian Games
South Asia: South Asian Men's Handball Championship, South Asian Women's Handball Championship, South Asian Games
Southeast Asia: Southeast Asian Games
East Asia: East Asian Games

Current Champions

Here are some of the recent winners of AHF tournaments:

Category	Men's	Women's
Senior Handball Championship	QAT (2024) (6)	South Korea (2022) (16*)
Asian Games	QAT (2018) (2)	South Korea (2018) (7*)
Junior Handball Championship	Japan (2022) (1)	India (2022) (1)
Asian Youth Games	Qatar (2013) (1*)	South Korea (2013) (1*)
Youth Handball Championship	South Korea (2022) (3*)	Iran (2022) (1)
Beach Handball Championship	Qatar (2023) (6)	Vietnam (2023) (2)
Asian Beach Games	Qatar (2016) (3*)	Vietnam (2016) (1)
Youth Beach Handball Championship	Iran (2022) (1*)	Thailand (2022) (1*)
Club Handball Championship	Al-Najma (2028) (5)	Kaysar Club (2019) (2*)

(Titles) (*) Record titles

A Disagreement

There was a disagreement between the International Handball Federation (IHF) and the AHF about a handball game. This happened during the Asian Men's Handball Qualification Tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The game was between Kuwait and South Korea in Japan.

The IHF later decided that the results of this game and some other events should not count. They asked for the games to be played again. The AHF disagreed with this decision. Only South Korea and Japan took part in the games that the IHF wanted to replay. South Korea won both the men's and women's replays.

Because of this disagreement, both the AHF and IHF decided to ask the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to help. The CAS is like a special court for sports disputes. After hearing from everyone, the CAS decided to approve the results of the men's replay organized by the IHF. They also approved the results of the women's event that the AHF had organized. This helped to settle the disagreement.