Iran lines up 21 players for Asian Handball Championship
Spanish head coach Rafael Guijosa Castillo has named a provisional 21-man squad as Iran began an eight-day training camp in preparation for the upcoming Asian Men’s Handball Championship, which starts on January 15 in Kuwait.
Iran has been drawn in Group D at the 22nd edition of the flagship continental event alongside two-time champions Japan — beaten by Qatar in the 2024 final — four-time bronze medalist Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
Iran will get its campaign underway against Saudi Arabia on the opening day of the competition before taking on Australia two days later.
The final day of the preliminary round will see Iran face Japan on January 19 — a rematch of their main-round meeting at the previous edition, which Japan won 25-23.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the main round, where they will be split into two four-team groups.
Iran, which achieved its best result with a bronze-medal finish in 2014, ended last year’s tournament in Bahrain in sixth place after a narrow 27-26 defeat to South Korea.
Castillo’s men will be looking to bounce back from a below-par run at November’s Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, where Iran suffered defeats to Qatar (39-23) and the UAE (28-25) on either side of a 57-14 demolition of the Maldives, finishing third in the group and missing out on a last-four spot.
As if added motivation were needed, World Championship berths will be up for grabs in Kuwait, with the four semi-finalists securing qualification for the 2027 showpiece in Germany.
The following is Iran’s provisional 21-man squad:
Ali Rahimi, Milad Qalandari, Vahid Masoudi, Yassin Kabirianjou, Amirhossein Firouzbakht, Reza Ezzati, Shahab Sadeqzadeh, Younes Asari, Ali Heidarian, Rouhollah Adelkhani, Reza Shojaei, Alireza Dadvand, Alireza Pirzad, Mohammad Siavoshi, Arman Rahmani, Taha Shokouhipour, Mohammadreza Kazemi, Omid Enayatijou, Saber Heidari, Saeid Aliakbari, Omidreza Sarpoushi.