Qatar Handball Team Begins Final Stage of Preparation for 2020 Asian Men's Handball Championship

Doha, January 09 (QNA) - The Qatar handball team began the final stage of its preparation program for the 19th edition of the Asian Men's Handball Championship, which will be held in Kuwait on Jan. 16-27, as well as qualifying for the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship in Egypt in 2021. The team returned to Doha on Tuesday after finishing its participation in the Croatia Cup 2020, in which it played two games and won first match against the Bosnian team 30:27, while lost the second match against its Croatian counterpart, 28:33. In the upcoming days, Spanish coach Valero Rivera will announce the final list of players who will represent the Qatari team in the Asian Championship, as the current list includes all of: Ahmad Madadi, Abdulrahman Tariq, Rafael Capote, Alaeddin Balrachid, Rashid Youssef, Amin Zakar, Mahmoud Zaki, Daniel Saric, Wagdi Sinan, Anis Al Zawawi, Hani Kakhi, Mustafa Al Karad, Mustapha Heiba, Yassine Sami, Hassan Awad, Mohammed Amin, Marwan Sassi, Youssef bin Ali, Frankis Carol, Mario Tomic and Jovan Gacevic. The Qatar team will compete in the 19th Asian Handball Championship, as well as to qualify for the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship, within Group B which also consists of Japan and China. Group A consists of Bahrain, Iran and New Zealand, Group C consists of South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia and Group D is Kuwait, the UAE, Hong Kong And Iraq. Qatar will face its Chinese counterpart in its first match on Thursday, 16 January, before facing Japan in the second match on Saturday, 18 January. The top two of each group qualify to the main round, where the eight qualified teams will be distributed into two groups with four teams in each group. The first and second place qualify for the semi finals, as well as for the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship in Egypt. The Qatari team seeks to preserve the Asian title it has won previously in 2014, 2016 and 2018 and to ensure participation in the 2021 World Championship for the eighth time in its history. (QNA)