Abdelrahman Abdalla of Qatar and Mohamed Mamdouh Shebib of Egypt vie for ball possession during the 2017 Men's World Championship match of Group D at AccorHotels Arena, Paris, France, yesterday.
2015 World Championship runners-up Qatar narrowly lost to Egypt in their opening match of the 2017 World Handball Championship in Paris yesterday.
The Al Anabi opened their campaign in France with a 22-20 loss in a tough Group D clash.
Egypt were led by a spectacular game from goalkeeper Karim Hendawi who gave them upper hand with some superb saves during the first half, which ended with an 11-8 lead for the Pharaohs.
Hendawy made 48 per cent saves, while the responsibility in attack was spread between a rotating back court.
It took Egypt just under 15 minutes to claim the momentum, as the opening quarter of the match saw a one-for-one contest.
2015 World Championship All-star left back Rafael Capote earned Qatar the edge at 5-4 just past the 10-minute mark, but after his goal the Asian champions were not able to find the goal until the clock showed 24 minutes. Both teams played active defensive systems with Egypt’s 5-1 forcing Qatar’s back court to work hard for their goals, while the African team’s smooth attack found trouble closer to the line but shot well to keep Danijel Saric on an uncharacteristic eight saves at 28 per cent.
Egypt took the lead after a saved penalty in the 13th and Ahmed El Ahmar scored his third of eight to put the score at 6-5 – and the rest of the match belonged to them.
Egypt coach Marwan Ragab called the first time-out of the match with his team still 6-5 in front midway through the half, but neither team could find the goal until after another time-out called by Qatar coach Valero Rivera following seven scoreless minutes.
Abdulrazzaq Murad broke a drought for Qatar in the 24th minute, but Egypt maintained their two-goal advantage and increased it further to 9-6 just before the half entered the last five minutes.
The half-time score of 11-8 was already an ominous sign for Qatar, and it seemed even mastermind coach Valero Rivera could not find the right tactics to beat their opponents as Egypt wasted little time moving further ahead in the second period. When a time-out was called with 12 minutes remaining in the match, the African champions held a commanding 17-13 advantage as keeper Handawy continued to shine. The two points were well decided by that point, and all Egypt had to do was hold on to the final whistle, after which El Ahmar was named Player of the Match.
The first four teams in each group will advance to the knockout round with 24 teams vying for top honors. Bahrain, Argentina, Sweden and Denmark are the other teams in the group.
Qatar next face Bahrain on January 15, followed by Argentina, two days later. Qatar’s next two matches are against Sweden and Denmark. Egypt reached the round of 16 two years ago, before eventually losing to powerhouses Germany. They take on Denmark on January 14 before facing Bahrain two days later.
Earlier, European powerhouses Spain recovered from a slow start to Iceland 27-21.
