UAE handballers take on Taipei

The UAE handball team begin their matches in group B by taking on Taipei at the Changwan gymnasium. The matches kick off 5 pm Busan time (12 noon UAE time).

"We began preparations through an internal training camp and after that we went to Egypt for an external training camp. We played nine strong warm-up matches against strong Egyptian clubs, two of the matches were against the Egypt national team.

"We benefitted very much from the training camp," Ahmed Khalifa Hammad, the UAE handball assistant secretary, told Gulf News yesterday.

Hammad said group B was a tough group which includes in addition to the UAE, Asian champions Kuwait and runner up Qatar.

He added matches are being held in Changwon indoor sports hall far from the players residence in the athletes village which takes about 1.5 hour by bus to reach