The South Korean women’s youth handball team achieved its second consecutive victory over Iran in the second match of the 11th Asian Women’s Youth Championship (U17) qualifying round.
South Korea beat Iran 40-27 (21-10, 19-17) in the second Group B match of the preliminary round held in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province, China on the 19th.
With this, South Korea has won two consecutive games and confirmed its advance to the semifinals early on. Japan also advanced to the semifinals by beating India on the same day. South Korea and Japan will face off for the lead in the group in the final qualifying match on the 21st.
사진 확대 Photo by South Korean players who won 2 consecutive Asian Women’s Youth Championship Qualifiers, Photo courtesy of Asian Handball Federation =
The Korean national team took the lead with a fierce attack from the beginning of the game. Cho Eun-yul scored the first goal within 1 minute and 3 seconds of the game, and Lee Soo-ah scored one after another to lead 2-0. Iran’s SANA scored the first goal, but South Korea immediately widened the gap with Kim Eun-yul’s score.
Iran followed equally until the 7th minute, but South Korea scored four goals, including Lee Soo-ah’s consecutive goals, and then again widened the gap by 12-5 rolls with Lee Soo-ah’s consecutive goals and Lee Ju-eun’s additional goals. Again, he scored four goals in a row, including Lee Joo-eun’s two goals, widening the gap to 16-6, 10 goals.
In particular, Lee Joo-eun and Lee Soo-ah led the attack with six goals each in the first half. South Korea maintained a steady lead throughout the first half, with various players such as Shin Ye-won and Kwon Min-jin participating in scoring.
Iran chased with goals from HASTI and DIYANA, but it was not enough, and South Korea finished the first half with a big score of 21-10, taking the lead early.
In the second half, South Korea also showed stable performance. Iran seemed to chase briefly with the scores of AREZOU and Diyana early in the second half, but South Korea began to widen the gap again, starting with Kwon Min-jin’s goal.
South Korea broke Iran’s willingness to chase by scoring six goals as Jang Ji-won, Kim Na-hyun, Lee Yeon-ju and Kwon Min-jin scored one after another, widening the gap to 31-15.
South Korea contributed to the team’s victory, with most of the players scoring evenly. Iran did not let go of its pursuit until the end, with PAVISAN and HASTI players scoring, but it was not enough to reverse South Korea’s lead. South Korea won with a final score of 40-27, marking its second consecutive victory.
On the day, South Korea made 40 of 61 shots, recording a high 65.57 percent shot success rate. The goalkeepers made 15 of their 42 shots, recording a 35.71% save percentage. Skylight saved 9 of 19 shots (47.37%) and Lim Ji-min saved 6 of 23 shots (26.09%).
[Kim Yongpil, MK Sports Reporter]