By Yi Whan-woo

Korea clinched one of the final four berths at the Asian Men’s Handball Championships, Monday, with a 27-26 come-from-behind victory over Kuwait in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The national team marked a three-game winning streak with this victory in its five-team group stage, and secured a place in the next round regardless of the outcome in the last remaining game against Japan, Wednesday.

Korea is looking to capture a third consecutive championship title and their ninth overall in this 15th Asian championships. The squad led by head coach Choi Suk-jai made a flying start, pounding Jordan 25-13 in its Friday opener and had a 26-21 win over Iran a day later.

Korea trailed Kuwait 20-23 with just seven minutes of the second half remaining.
Right back Yoon Kyung-shin then stepped up, along with Park Jung-gyu and Jeong Han, each scoring once to level the game at 23.

Both teams then traded goals back and forth until Korea eventually managed to seal a narrow win.

Mohammad Algharabali, the game’s highest-scorer with 11, gave Korea’s opponents a 24-23 lead on 24 minutes and 37 seconds, before Eom Hyo-won fired an equalizer 10 seconds later.

Kuwait’s 25th goal by Abdullah Algharabali’s at 25:38 was nullified by Lim Duk-jin, netting his only goal of the game about 4 minutes 30 seconds before the final whistle.

Korea then rallied as Park Jung-gyu scored twice for a 27-25 lead. With 33 seconds to go, Mohammad Algharabali sought an upset, scoring his 11th goal, but it turned out to be in vain.

Park Jung-gyu and Eom Hyo-won had a team-high five goals apiece, followed by Yoon Kyung-shin and Jeong Han with four.

“The game was tough as we fell behind against opponents who hustled well,” Choi said.

“But I’m sure this game will have been good experience for my players.

The 45-old head coach was positive ahead of today’s game against Japan, the team’s s perennial rivals.

“We know we have clinched a spot in the semifinals but we’ll put our utmost efforts into winning for Korea’s pride,” he added.

The ten competing countries are divided into two groups. The top three teams will earn a ticket to next year’s world championships in Spain.