The Philippine national men’s handball team now looks to take down powerhouse countries at the Asian Beach Handball Championship in Oman from 1 to 10 May.

Rafael Andrew Agtarap said after beating Vietnam during their title run in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Beach Handball Championships in Thailand, they are now looking at beating Iran, Oman, and defending champion Qatar this time.

The draw for the Asian Beach Handball Championship will be held this Monday at the City Seasons Muscat Hotel.

“It’s still the same, the countries that are strong are Qatar, Oman, Iran. Even the other countries that are strong,” Agtarap said.

“Right now, the ranking for the Asian Championships is different because we defeated Vietnam. So when it comes to the Asian Championships, that’s when we’ll know what bracket we’re in.”

The Philippines looks to improve their fifth-place finish from the 2023 edition in Indonesia.

Now that the Nationals were able to get over the Vietnamese hump, Agtarap believes they won’t be easily intimidated against other countries in the Asian tilt.

“We’ve been trying to beat Vietnam for a long time, for the past how many years and now, we’ve beaten them. This will be the fuel for our team to work on,” Agtarap said.

“We don’t have to worry about them anymore. We need to take down those who frequently win the Asian Championships.”