Kazakhstan's men's national handball team lost heavily to Bahrain 20:43 (8:20) at the start of the handball tournament at the Asian Games in Japan. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Match summary

Our team opened its scoring at the Asian Games while trailing 0:3. For a while the deficit did not look critical, but by the end of the first half the opponents had pulled ahead by 12 goals – 20:8.

After the break the pattern of the game did not change. Bahrain scored steadily, while Kazakhstan managed to do so far less often. The level of handball qualification of the teams today, unfortunately, is incomparable. The final score of 20:43 is a clear illustration of that.

🏐 KUWAIT – IRAN 26:24, KAZAKHSTAN – BAHRAIN 20:43

Tournament format

The format of the handball tournament is peculiar. Nine teams are divided into two groups. From quartet A (Qatar, Japan, China, Hong Kong) all teams, without exception, advance to the playoffs. From quintet B (Kuwait, Bahrain, South Korea, Iran, Kazakhstan) – four.

Thus, in order to reach the quarterfinals, our team only needs to take the penultimate place in the group. In that case, however, they will face the first team of group A. Moreover, any opponent from the group with that letter is quite strong.

On September 22, Makhsadbek Narmetov's charges will compete with Kuwait, on the 23rd – with Iran and on the 24th – with South Korea.

History and the team

Kazakhstan's handball players have never yet made it into the ranks of medalists at the Asian Games. And most often of all, the South Korean national team has won.

The XX Summer Asian Games in Japan officially opened yesterday, September 19. In the multi-sport competitions with the participation of athletes from 45 countries, 460 sets of medals will be awarded. 217 – among men, 204 – among women and 39 – in mixed categories. The tournaments will be held in 68 disciplines of 41 sports.

Kazakhstan's national team at the 2026 Asian Games will feature 559 athletes. On September 20, triathlete Arlan Zhanabay brought Kazakhstan its first medal of the 2026 Asian Games, winning bronze. Today, cyclist Rinata Sultanova won gold in the individual time trial.