Kazakhstan's women's handball team opened its campaign at the Asian Games in Japan with a 24:34 loss to China. The Group A first-round match was the Kazakh team's debut at the tournament, which officially opens today, September 19, in Nagoya, infohub.kz reports.

For much of the first half, Marina Pikalova's squad traded blows with their opponents. Moreover, in the 25th minute, Irina Khassakhanova put Kazakhstan ahead for the first time in the match, 11:10.

Unfortunately, they could not build on that lead. China scored four unanswered goals and closed out the first 30 minutes with that margin, 16:12. After the break, Kazakhstan trailed by 4–5 goals throughout but faded late. In the end, they lost by 10, 24:34.

Khassakhanova finished with 9 goals, the most on the Kazakh team. China's captain Chang Liu scored the same number.

Kazakhstan's top attackers were Irina Khassakhanova (15), Arailym Abdikhamit (14) and Kristina Radaeva (10).

ASIAN GAMES 2026. Handball. Women. Group A. Round 1: CHINA – KAZAKHSTAN 34:24, SOUTH KOREA – HONG KONG 48:16, JAPAN – VIETNAM 40:14.

The format of the women's handball tournament at the 2026 Asian Games is straightforward. Seven teams will play a single round-robin to determine the winners and medalists. Tomorrow, Kazakhstan faces the tournament's top favorite, South Korea, which opened with a 48:16 rout of Hong Kong. On September 22, Marina Pikalova's team will play Vietnam, on the 23rd Hong Kong, on the 25th Japan and on the 26th Uzbekistan.

Until now, only three teams have won gold in women's handball at the Asian Games, with South Korea doing so seven times. At the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China ended South Korea's dominance. At the last Asian Games, in Hangzhou, Japan won.

Kazakhstan's women's handball team finished as runner-up twice, in 2002 and 2006. At the 2014 Asian Games, the Kazakh team won bronze.

The 20th Summer Asian Games in Nagoya officially open today, September 19. The multi-sport event, featuring athletes from 45 countries, will award 460 sets of medals: 217 in men's events, 204 in women's and 39 in mixed events. Competitions will be held in 68 disciplines across 41 sports.

Kazakhstan's national team at the 2026 Asian Games will include 559 athletes.