Gulf Times
Qatar won their fifth straight Asian Beach Handball title after a 2-0 victory over Oman in the final of the seventh edition of the championship in Weihai, China, yesterday. Qatar also confirmed qualification for both the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in Qatar in October and the 2020 IHF Beach Handball Championships to be held in Italy.
Qatar were the overwhelming favourites for the title and they justified tag with a commanding victory. Qatar won all their five matches, semi-final and final without dropping a set. Incidentally, Qatar had also defeated Oman in the final of previous edition of the championships held in Thailand in May 2017. This time the Maroons had a training camp in Thailand, where they faced local club teams and the Thai national team. Now Qatar players will focus on winning a medal at the IHF Championships. In the previous years, Qatar had finished tenth in 2010 in Turkey, 7th in 2012 in Amman, 3rd in 2014 in Brazil, 3rd in 2016 in Hungary, and ninth in 2018 in Russia.