staddoha.com
The Qatari handball team will be in an overseas training camp in Bosnia from December 7th to 17th, as part of their preparation for the 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship in Bahrain from January 11th to 22nd. The championship serves as a qualifier for the 2025 World Championship in Croatia, Denmark, and Norway.
The delegation, led by Khalifa Al-Jassim, the assistant secretary-general of the Qatari Handball Association, includes team manager Youssef Al-Muallem, head coach Goran Jokic, and 22 players. During the camp, Qatar will play three friendly matches against teams from Slovenia, Montenegro, and Bosnia.
In the 21st Asian Championship, Qatar is placed in Group 1 alongside Kuwait, Oman, and Chinese Taipei. The top two teams from each group advance to the main round, where eight teams will compete in a league format. The first and second-placed teams from each group will proceed to the semi-finals and qualify directly for the World Championship.
Qatar aims to defend its Asian title, having won it in the past five editions (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022), in addition to securing their place at the World Championships for the tenth time in the country’s history, after Portugal 2003, Tunisia 2005, Germany 2007, Spain 2013, Qatar 2015, France 2017, Germany-Denmark 2019, Egypt 2021, and Poland-Sweden 2023. The 2015 edition at home marked their best performance in the World Championship.
In the previous edition of the Asian Championship held in Saudi Arabia, Qatar secured the title by defeating Bahrain 29-24 in the final match.