Asian Handball Federation

The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) is in one way absolutely unique: during its history till date it had two Presidents - and they were father and son.

When in 1976 the federation was officially founded and Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was elected for president, the committed Sheikh had already put a lot of efforts and preparation work into it. In 1974, during the 7th Asian Games in Tehran (Iran), he applied as head of the Kuwaiti delegation at the executive committee for the inclusion of Handball into the sports programme and the foundation of a continental handball federation. The explanation was easy and convincing: meanwhile handball was widely spread in Asia. The leaders of the Asian Game accepted handball as an official sport and asked the Sheikh to act as interim president and to prepare the statutes of the federation. In this task he was supported by the Secretary General Syed Abul Hassan (Pakistan).[1]

Following is the AHF Executive Committee for 2017 – 2021.

Designation	Name
President	Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah
1st Vice-President	Yoshihide Watanabe
Secretary General	Muhammad Shafiq
Treasurer	Bader Mohammad Al-Theyab
Member	Ahmed Mohamed Abdulrab Al-Shaabi

Following is the AHF Council for the term 2021 — 2025.

Designation	Name
President	Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
1st Vice-President	Yoshihide Watanabe
Vice-President	Ahmad Mohammed Abdulrab Al-Shaabi
	Ali Mohamed Isa Eshaqi
	Dr. Sari Hamdan Ghanima
	Ms. Wang Tao
Secretary General	Muhammad Shafiq
Treasurer	Bader Mohammad Al-Theyab
Council Member	Ameen Al-Barwani
	Choi Jung-suck
	Mohammed Julfar
	Sombat Kuruphan
	Alireza Pakdel
Female Council Member	Gulnara Turlykhanova
Chairman of AHF COC	Fadhel Al-Nemer
Chairman of AHF PRC	Saleh bin Ashour
Chairman of AHF CCM	Prof. Dr. Chung Hyung-kyun
Chairman of AHF MC	Dr. Katsuhiko Sakuma
Chairman of AHF CPP	Mitra Noorigollehjareh
Chairman of AHF MKC	Mohammad Jaber Al-Mulla
Chairman of AHF UDC	Ismoiljon Matkhalikov
Chairman of AHF CYSH	Mohammed Al-Araje

Following are the AHF Commission members for the term 2017 — 2021.

Commission	Chairman	Members
AHF Commission of Organizing and Competition (COC)	Fadhel Al-Nemer	COC Members Issa Abdullah Al-Jabri Ahmad Darwich Faisal Baqer Dr. Anandeshwar Panday Noboru Goto Qiao Cheng Ms. Hong Jeong-ho
AHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission (PRC)	Saleh bin Ashour	PRC Members Khalaf Al-Enezi Zuhir Samha Dr. Zain Al-Abedin Bani Hani Wu Ruiting Minoru Nakada Dr. Chatchai Sangsukeelux
AHF Commission of Coaching and Methods (CCM)	Prof. Dr. Chung Hyung Kyun	CCM Members Alireza Habibi Amjad Karwani Dr. Nabeel Taha Al-Shehab Dr. Taiysir Mansi Dhafer Sahib Mohammed
AHF Medical Commission (MC)	Dr. Katsuhiko Sakuma	MC Members Dr. Mohammad Saeid Rajaei Dr. Hussein Al-Haddad
AHF Promotion and Public Relations Commission (CPP)	Mitra Noorigollehjareh	CPP Members Helmi Cheaib Husain Al-Asfoor Othman Al-Qasmi Ameen Al-Muddaeai TBA Matar Al-Zarraa Kareem Abdullah Al-Rammahi
AHF Marketing Commission (MKC)	Mohammad Jaber Al-Mulla	MKC Members Daulet Turlykhanov Tamim Sulaiman Abed Naji Oudah Dr. Nasser Saab Al-Shammari Nasir Al-Hammadi Ms. Vivin Cahyani
AHF Under Development Countries Commission (UDC)	Ismoiljon Matkhalikov	UDC Members Hamza Saleh Hamza Jamal Abuyousef Ms. Nour Obeidat Tej Bahadur Gurung Francis Gihan Dalpethado Ms. Mavjuda Matkhalikova Kim Kwang-su
AHF Commission of Youth and School Handball (CYSH)	Mohammed Al-Araje	CYSH Members Moosa Al-Bulushi Ms. Joanna Franquelli Ms. Samha Salem Al-Ajmi Ms. Abeer Ali Al-Zadjali Mustafa Masyhur Ms. Yang Li
AHF Arbitration Commission (AC)	NA	AC Members Dr. Abdulla Musfir Al-Hayyan Ms. Roya Rahimi
AHF Experts Commission (EC)	NA	EC Members Dr. Khalid Al-Sharji Abdullah Al-Theyab Ali Hassan Al-Aliwat Nasir Herz Allah Ms. Oh Seong-ok Yoon Kyung-shin Ms. Nasrein Abuhashieh Li Zhiwen Nabeel Bin Ashour Ulugbek Ikromov
AHF Women's Commission (WC)	NA	WC Members Mrs. Gulnara Turlykhanova Ms. Nguyễn Thị Như Quỳnh Ms. Valentina Degtyareva Ms. Mona Khalil Kamal Ms. Dalal Mohammad
AHF Beach Handball Working Group (BHWG)	NA	BHWG Members Ismail Salem Mohammad Fadhil Ahmed Baqer Muhammad Imran Dr. Mutasem Ahmad Khatatbeh Ms. Long Peili Ms. Sirintra Poburipanich

Category	Men's	Women's
Senior Handball Championship	Qatar (2022) (5)	South Korea (2022) (16*)
Asian Games	Qatar (2018) (2)	South Korea (2018) (7*)
Junior Handball Championship	Japan (2022) (1)	India (2022) (1)
Asian Youth Games	Qatar (2013) (1*)	South Korea (2013) (1*)
Youth Handball Championship	South Korea (2022) (3*)	Iran (2022) (1)
Beach Handball Championship	Qatar (2023) (6)	Vietnam (2023) (2)
Asian Beach Games	Qatar (2016) (3*)	Vietnam (2016) (1)
Youth Beach Handball Championship	Thailand (2016) (1*)	China (2016) (1*)
Club Handball Championship	Al-Najma (2028) (5)	Kaysar Club (2019) (2*)

(Titles) (*) Record titles

A dispute arises between the International Handball Federation (IHF) and the AHF following a controversial decision to replace referees of opening match of Asian Men's Handball Qualification Tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics between Kuwait and South Korea played on 1 September 2007 in Toyota (Japan). AHF replaced experienced and IHF nominated German referees Lemme and Ulrich with Jordanian referees Al-Shoubaki and Hirzallah, neither of whom stood on the list of IHF-qualified referees having "IHF Status", meaning that they had not completed the Global Referees Training Programme (GRTP), a program established by the IHF for the development of IHF-level referees. The Jordanian referee pair completely destroyed the South Korean team with more than 20 wrong decisions only in first half of the match which favoured the Kuwaiti team. IHF COC Chairman Aleksandr Kozhukhov (Russia) who was appointed by IHF as supervisor for the event and member of AHF Technical Committee Khalaf Al-Enezi (Kuwait) intervened into the matter at half-time of the match and asked the referees to be fair but the South Korean team nevertheless could not get the result in their own favour losing the match by 28–20.

Later, on 17 December 2007, in an IHF Council meeting held in Paris (France), IHF decided not to approve the results of the event conduct by AHF and decided to replay both men's and women's events due to biased referee allegations. AHF objected against this decision and warned all the AHF member federations not to participate in the replay organised by IHF. Only South Korea and Japan participated in the IHF replay and South Korea won both men's and women's matches. On February 5, 2008, AHF imposed a fine of $1000 on both the Japan and South Korea and banned them from participating in any event organised by AHF until the fine is paid.[2]

When the matter becomes that complicated, both AHF and IHF mutually decided to took the case to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for decision. The Kazakhstan Handball Federation and Kuwait Handball Association also want to become a party in the case but CAS refused their appeal. On 20 May 2008, after hearing all the parties, CAS decided to approve the result of IHF men's replay and also approved the AHF organised women's event results.[3]

First level

Second level

Third level

• ✝ non-active member

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