The Peninsula
Reigning Asian champions Qatar yesterday revealed the 18-member squad for the Asian qualifiers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The continental qualifying tournament will take place in Doha from October 17-27.
The squad which was announced by the Qatar National Handball Federation yesterday, includes top players in the calibre of Rafael Capote (pictured), Daniel Saric, Ahmed Medadi and Bertrand Roine who played a major role in Qatar’s win at the 2018 Asian Championships in August.
They also won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, earlning valuable points to advance in the World Rankings.
Al Annabi, are currently occupying the fourth spot in the international handball rankings
The Asian draw for men’s handball qualifying for the Tokyo Games will be held tomorrow in Doha on the sidelines of the The Amir’s Cup final in which Al Gharafa meet Al Arabi.
The Asian qualifiers will see Kuwait, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and hosts Qatar vying for one of the four alloocated slots in the 2020 Games from the different continental qualification events, namely the Asia, Europe, Africa and Pan Americas.
A total of 12 men’s teams will be in action at the global sports extravaganza which takes place in the Japanese capital from Jul 24-Aug 9, 2020.
The champions of this year’s Men’s World Championships, Denmark have already booked their place in the last 12.
The winner in each continental event will secure a berth, with the spots for the Americas qualifier to be held as part of next year’s Pan American Games in Lima.
Japan have already qualified due to the host status.
Twelve teams will battle for the remaining six places at Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments.
These 12 teams will be made up by the six highest from the World Championships not already qualified.
The remaining six teams will consist of the two from the best ranked continent at the respective 2019 World Championship, two from the second-best continent and one each from the third and fourth best continent.
It will be the second time in a row that Qatar hosting the Asian handball qualifiers for the Olympic Games, after succesfull tournaments in 2015 ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics.