South Korea's men's handball team lost to Qatar for the first time after winning three consecutive Asian qualifiers.
South Korea lost to Qatar 25-39 in the fourth Group A match of the men's handball Asian qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Doha, Qatar, on the morning of the 23rd (Korea time). Korea had previously won three consecutive games by beating the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and India. With three wins and one loss, South Korea is currently ranked second in the group along with Saudi Arabia.
South Korea seemed to take the early lead with Cho Tae-hoon (Doosan), Ha Min-ho (Incheon City Corporation), and Kang Jeon-gu (Doosan) scoring consecutive points in the five minutes of the game, but ended the first half 11-16 with consecutive runs blocked by Qatar's defense. In the second half, the defense was greatly shaken, so it widened to a maximum of 14 points. Jang Dong-hyun (SK Hawks) and Park Kwang-soon (Hanam City Hall) scored consecutive goals in the 18th minute of the second half, but it was not enough to close the already wide gap.
After finishing the game 25-39, Park Kwang-soon said, "I think the motivation was too far ahead (the gap widened in the early second half). "I was going to follow him because I was losing, but I think I made a mistake," he expressed regret.
South Korea's men's handball team is aiming to advance to the Olympic finals for the first time in 12 years. A, which belongs to Korea, has two games left: Korea (3 wins, 1 loss), China (1 win, 3 losses), Qatar (4 wins), and Saudi Arabia (3 wins, 1 loss). If Korea beats China, it is highly likely to reach the semifinals as second in the group. The No. 1 Asian qualifying team will advance to the Olympic finals, and the runner-up team will advance to the final qualifying round in March 2024, when countries that have not passed the continental qualifying round will play.
The last time the Korean men's handball team advanced to the Olympic finals was at the 2012 London Games. He failed to advance to the finals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and the 2021 Tokyo Games. It also failed to advance to the semifinals at the Hangzhou Asian Games. 안전놀이터