Qatar’s national handball team will meet its Danish counterpart on Thursday in the 27th IHF Men’s World Championship in Cairo, Egypt.
Asian champions Qatar will play against Olympic and world champions Denmark in their first match in the main round competitions of the 27th IHF Men’s World Championship on Thursday.
The match will kick off at 10.30pm Qatar time at the Cairo International Stadium in the Egyptian capital.
Qatar qualified to compete against Denmark after coming in second in Group C during the preliminary round.
Qatar defeated both Angola 30-25 and Japan 31-29 but lost to Croatia 24-26 in their third match on Tuesday.
“We performed well during the game and secured a place in the main round after competing in a tough group,” Qatar’s Spanish coach Valero Rivera said.
Denmark, in Group D, had three victories against Bahrain 34-20, DR Congo 39-19, and Argentina 31-20.
The two teams that rank first and second in each group, will qualify for the quarterfinals at the start of the elimination rounds in the tournament.
“I’m proud of my boys the way they played in the preliminary round. We lost against Croatia, but it was a very tough match, and we made some mistakes, but that doesn’t take away anything from the boys’ show. They gave their 100 percent,” the Spanish coach said in a comment on his players’ performance in the first round.
Read also: Qatar’s beats Japan in handball World Cup
Due to their first round win, Qatar will not be required to play Croatia and Japan again as points will be carried forward from the previous round.
However, the Qatari national team will face world champions Denmark, South American runners-up Argentina and Asian runners-up Bahrain.
Qatar will play against Bahrain on Saturday at 10.30pm before facing Argentina two days later at 8.00pm.
Commenting on the next round of matches, Rivera said that the Denmark match would be their most challenging game.
“World Champions Denmark will be our toughest opponent and the team to beat. We’ll have to raise our game and I have full confidence in my team,” he said.
On Tuesday, Croatia outperformed Qatar in the first period with a 13-11, to then score a 26-24 win over the Asian giants in the last minutes.
“Croatia is a great team as they are the runners-up of European Championship,” Rivera said.
“All the teams that we faced during the last stage were strong, so I feel satisfied with the results we achieved and our success in qualifying for the main role and getting second place in the group,” Rivera added, noting that the upcoming games will be more challenging as all the teams strive to qualify for the finals.
“We will concentrate on the coming games in the main round of the World Championship,” Qatar captain Ahmad Madadi said.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the Egypt World Championships have informed the International Handball Federation that all new COVID-19 PCR tests have returned with negative results.
A few days earlier, some tests returned positive, including that of a Danish player who was swiftly taken into isolation.
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