Rio de Janeiro: The Qatar handball team arrived in Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which take place from August 5 to 21.
This is the first participation for Qatar in the discipline. The Qatari group in Rio included the President of the Qatar Handball Association, Ahmad Mohammed Al Shaabi, and team manager Yusuf Mohamed Al Hail, along with the players and members of the coaching staff.
The national team, the world runners-up, will compete in Group A, the strongest in the competition, which comprises world champions France along with Croatia, Denmark, Tunisia, Argentina, while the second group includes Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia and Egypt. The first four will qualify for the second round of the competition.
The ‘Al Anabi’ kick off their campaign against Croatia on August 7, and will play the second game against France on August 9 before taking on Tunisia August 11. After that, they play Denmark on August 13 and conclude the group stage against Argentina on August 15.
The national team qualified for the Olympics after winning the Asian Handball Championship which was held in Doha last November. The team also went through a special training camp in preparation for the Olympics, where they played several friendly matches against Portugal, Poland, Iran and Norway.
Al Shaabi expressed his satisfaction with the team during the experimental preparation period, where they faced strong teams and managed to win a number of the matches against fellow qualified teams, stressing that becoming world runners-up was well-deserved, hoping to achieve the best in the Olympic Games.
“We wish to win in the first game against Croatia, which will determine the features of our journey in the competition,” he said, adding that they aspire to reach the medals’ podium but can not predict or promise to do so. Team manager Yusuf Mohamed Al Hail confirmed the difficulty of the task but said that it is not impossible for the players, pointing out that the team will participate in the iron group, which includes the current world champions as well as previous world champions.
“We recognise the difficulty of the task in this group, but we are confident about our players in this great challenge that combines the strongest 12 teams from different continents of the world,” said the manager.
The Peninsula
Rio de Janeiro: The Qatar handball team arrived in Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which take place from August 5 to 21.
This is the first participation for Qatar in the discipline. The Qatari group in Rio included the President of the Qatar Handball Association, Ahmad Mohammed Al Shaabi, and team manager Yusuf Mohamed Al Hail, along with the players and members of the coaching staff.
The national team, the world runners-up, will compete in Group A, the strongest in the competition, which comprises world champions France along with Croatia, Denmark, Tunisia, Argentina, while the second group includes Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia and Egypt. The first four will qualify for the second round of the competition.
The ‘Al Anabi’ kick off their campaign against Croatia on August 7, and will play the second game against France on August 9 before taking on Tunisia August 11. After that, they play Denmark on August 13 and conclude the group stage against Argentina on August 15.
The national team qualified for the Olympics after winning the Asian Handball Championship which was held in Doha last November. The team also went through a special training camp in preparation for the Olympics, where they played several friendly matches against Portugal, Poland, Iran and Norway.
Al Shaabi expressed his satisfaction with the team during the experimental preparation period, where they faced strong teams and managed to win a number of the matches against fellow qualified teams, stressing that becoming world runners-up was well-deserved, hoping to achieve the best in the Olympic Games.
“We wish to win in the first game against Croatia, which will determine the features of our journey in the competition,” he said, adding that they aspire to reach the medals’ podium but can not predict or promise to do so. Team manager Yusuf Mohamed Al Hail confirmed the difficulty of the task but said that it is not impossible for the players, pointing out that the team will participate in the iron group, which includes the current world champions as well as previous world champions.
“We recognise the difficulty of the task in this group, but we are confident about our players in this great challenge that combines the strongest 12 teams from different continents of the world,” said the manager.
The Peninsula
