TEHRAN – Saudi Arabia defeated Iran 32-28 in the opening match of the 2022 Asian Junior Handball Championship on Saturday.

Iran are scheduled to meet South Korea and Kuwait in Group A respectively on Monday and Wednesday.

Bahrain, Japan, India and Pakistan are in Group B.

The competition got underway in Manama, Bahrain on July 17 and will run until July 24.

It also acts as a qualification tournament for the 2023 Men's Junior World Handball Championship, with top four teams from the championship directly qualifying for the event to be jointly hosted by Germany and Greece.