Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024: India on the hunt for continental glory - full schedule and where to watch

The Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024 will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from December 3 to 10.

Eight top teams from the continent, including the Indian women’s handball team, will vie for the coveted title. The Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024 will be live streamed and live telecast in India.

Organised by the Asian Handball Federation (AHF), this will be the 20th edition of the tournament. This is the first time that India will be hosting the handball competition.

The tournament also doubles up as a qualifier for the IHF Women’s Handball World Championship 2025, which will be held in Germany and the Netherlands from November 27 to December 14 next year.

The top four teams from the Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024 will qualify for next year’s World Championship.

Two groups of four teams each will start off the competition.

After round-robin matches, the top two from each group will make the semi-finals and secure the spots for the 2025 world championships while the remaining teams will play classification matches to determine their final finishing positions.

India are in Group B with 2004 champions Japan, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hong Kong China.

The Republic of Korea are the most successful team in the competition with 16 titles. Kazakhstan are two-time champions while the People’s Republic of China have finished runner-ups on 10 occasions. All three are in Group A.

Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024: Teams and groups

• Group A: South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Singapore
• Group B: India, Japan, Iran, Hong Kong China

Australia and Uzbekistan have pulled out of this year’s tournament, which was earlier set to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, before being shifted to India.

This will be India’s eighth appearance in the Asian Women’s Handball Championship. Their best finish in the competition is sixth, achieved at the 2000 edition in China and then again at the last edition in 2022 held in South Korea.

A 25-member squad, led by captain Diksha Kumari, will represent India. The team also includes Menika, named in the Team of the Tournament at the 7th Asian Women’s Club League Championship, Bhawana Sharma and Priyanka Thakur from India’s historic 2022 Asian Women’s Junior Championship gold-winning team and seasoned players like Manika Pal and Nina Shil, contributors to India’s 2019 SAF Championship triumph.

Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024: Indian team

Goalkeepers: Gulshan Sharma, Bhawana, Sushma, Shalini Thakur

Centre backs: Nina Shil, Diksha Kumari, Mamta, Menika

Left backs: Maninder Kaur, Varsha Jhakhar, Tejaswani Singh, Priyanka Thakur

Right backs: Nikki, Aarti, Binapreet Kaur, Parvesh

Pivots: Mitali Sharma, Sujata, Sapna Kashyap, Pavitar

Left wing: Priyanka

Right wings: Khushboo Kumari, Rimjhim Kumari

Where to watch Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024 live in India

Live streaming of Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024 matches will be available on SportCast India’s YouTube channel. The Asian Women’s Handball Championship finals will be telecast live on the DD Sports TV channel in India, which will also broadcast highlights of the other matches at prime time.

Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024: India schedule

As per Indian Standard Time (IST)

December 3, Tuesday

• Group B: India vs Hong Kong China - 6:00 PM

December 4, Wednesday

• Group B: India vs Iran - 6:00 PM

December 6, Friday

• Group B: India vs Japan - 6:00 PM

December 8, Sunday

• Placement matches - 12:00 PM onwards
• Semi-finals - 4:00 PM onwards

December 10, Tuesday

• Placement matches - 12:00 PM onwards
• Bronze medal match - 4:00 PM
• Final - 6:00 PM