The Peninsula
Hosts Qatar marched into the semi-finals of men’s handball event at the first ANOC World Beach Games Qatar 2019, thrashing Australia in last night’s last quarter-final at Al Gharafa Beach.
Al Annabis, who reached the knockout stage with five straight victories, displayed another commanding performance to outwit the Aussies 24-17, 21-14 on their way to the semi-finals.
Qatar will take on Brazil in tonight’s semi-final, after Spain plays against Sweden for a place in the men’s final.
While it was another team effort from the hosts, Mutasem Mohamed emerged as the most standout performer, earning 17 points from 9 goals. Hani Kakhi also maintained his golden form firing 5 two-pointers while Mahmoud Hassaballa brought home 8 points.
Earlier Spain, who entered the knockout stage as fourth side from Group B, shocked Group A leaders Denmark 2-0 to enter the semi-finals.
The Spaniards looked outstanding against the European champions, winning the match 30-24, 20-17.
“I wasn’t happy the last time we played against Denmark. They beat us 2-0. And since then I tried to focus to beat this team. Because the last time We did too many mistakes. We prepared ourselves not to repeat the mistakes and I am happy we clinched victory,” Spain’s Elhji Toure Jabby said after the win.
“We want to win every game till the final. We have to reach the final. We will give our best in the next match,” he added.
Spain’s Jesus Domingo Luis said: “We are very happy to win the match. Denmark is a very good team, European champions. We were in a very tough group with difficult teams like Croatia and Hungary and Qatar.”
In other quarter-final, Sweden bounced back after losing the first set to overcome Hungary 2-1 with a 17-19, 22-20, 7-4 score-line. Brazil also entered the semi-final after defeating Croatia 2-1 with scores of 30-20, 16-17, 6-4.
The women’s section yesterday saw, Brazil, Vietnam, USA and Hungary advancing to the semi-finals after winning their respective last-8 stage matches.
Brazil will square off with Denmark while Vietnam will clash against Hungary in today’s semi-finals.