ALMATY, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women handball team won the third place in the Asian women's handball championship here on Saturaday, beating Japan.

Kazakhstan won the gold and South Korea finished second.

Eight teams including China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Japan, Iran, Thailand, South Korea and DPr Korea participated in the championship.

The competition doubled as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2011 world championship to be held in Brazil.

China, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea qualified for the world championship after reaching the semifinals.