TEHRAN – Iran will play New Zealand on Friday in their opening match of the 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship.

Team Melli will also meet China and South Korea in Group B on Jan. 14 and 16, respectively.

Last week, Iran took part in a tournament in Moscow, where the team lost to Belarus and defeated Russia and youth Russia as part of preparation for the Asian championship.

The 2024 Asian Men's Handball Championship will be the 21st edition of the championship scheduled to be held from 11 to 25 Jan. in Bahrain, under the aegis of Asian Handball Federation (AHF).

It will be the third time in history that the championship will be organized by the Bahrain Handball Federation.

It also acts as a qualification tournament for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship, with top four teams from the championship directly qualifying for the event.

If New Zealand finish inside the top five, they are qualified as well as the representative of Oceania.