A total of 6 teams will participate in each gender. Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) can enter a maximum of 2 teams of 14 athletes, 1 per each gender. As hosts, China is given the choice of entering a male or female team while the other places shall be decided by qualification events, namely five continental qualification tournaments.[1]
China chose to enter a girls' team[2] therefore the unoccupied boys' team was reallocated to the best placed continent at the 2013 Men's Youth World Handball Championship (Europe).[1] Furthermore Oceania did not organize a qualifying event for either gender thus the spots were reallocated.[3]
To be eligible to participate at the Youth Olympics athletes must have been born between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1998. Furthermore, all qualified NOCs must either have a senior ranking in the top 40 on 1 January 2014 or finish ahead of a team ranked in the top 20 during the continental qualification tournament.[1]
