The Peninsula
Defending champions Qatar will leave for Kuwait today to take part in the Asian Men’s Handball Championship – a qualifying event for the 2021 World Championship in Egypt.
Qatar concluded their week-long training camp at home, which wrapped up their extensive preparations for the 13-nation event to take place from January 16 to 27.
Team Qatar’s delegation is headed by Adel Al Anzi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Qatar Handball Federation, and includes Youssef Al Hail, Director of the team, and Youssef Al Moallem (manager). The technical staff is led by head coach Valero Rivera.
Qatar are dominating force in the continental event, winning the last three editions of the biennial event, with their 2018 title coming after a win over Bahrain in the final in South Korea.
Qatar are in Group B of this year's Asian Championship alongside Japan and China. They will start their campaign against China on January 16.
Group A includes Bahrain, Iran and New Zealand while Group C comprises South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Hosts Kuwait, UAE, Hong Kong and Iraq form Group D.
After the preliminary stage in Kuwait, top two teams from each group – divided into two groups – will feature in the main round before the event advances to the semi-finals.
Al Anabi under the supervision of Spaniard Rivera have been preparing for the continental tournaments for months.
Prior to their camp in Doha, Qatar toured Croatia in the first week of January to play two friendly games against Bosnia and the hosts. They defeated Bosnia before losing against Croatia. Late last month, Qatar also played two home friendly matches against Iran, which they won comfortably at Al Duhail Handball Sports Hall.
Iran also underwent a 10-day training camp in Doha to prepare for the event.
Qatar Squad: Ahmed Maddi, Abdul Rahman Tariq, Rafael de Costa Capote, Alauddin in Al-Rashid and Rashid Youssef Amin Zakar, Mahmoud Zaki, Daniel Sirch, Wajdi Senan, Anis Al-Zawawi, Hani Kakhi, Mustafa Al-Karad, Mustafa Hiba, Yassin Sami, Hassan Awad, Muhammad Amin, Marwan Sassi, Youssef bin Ali, Frances Carroll and Mario Tomek.