Qatar advance to main round at Beach Handball Worlds

Doha: A thrilling win over Uruguay was enough for Qatar to secure their place in the main round of the Men s Beach Handball World Championship which i...

Doha: A thrilling win over Uruguay was enough for Qatar to secure their place in the main round of the Men’s Beach Handball World Championship which is in progress at the Pingtan International Beach Sports Base in Pingtan Island, China.

Qatar finished third in Group D, behind leaders Germany and the United States, with a record of one win and two losses, while Uruguay were sent to the consolation round where they will join Australia, hosts China and Puerto Rico.

Qatar’s only win in the opening round came in their second Pool D match when they beat Uruguay in straight sets with scores of 18–22 and 22–23.

The first half saw Qatar taking an early lead, but Uruguay hung on to pose a threat to the Asian Champions. Uruguay, despite their efforts, struggled to break through Qatar’s defense later into the first half, with Santiago Rodriguez Mayado and Andres Carlos Miranda Rodriguez leading their attack before Al Annabi took a 1-0 lead with a 22-18 score.

Ali Ahmed Mohamed (10), Mahmoud Hassaballa (12), Amir Nowraddine Denguir (11) and Hani Marwan Kahki (10) were the standout performers for Qatar. Qatar, a two-time bronze winner at the World Championship,  continued to penetrate the Uruguayan attack despite the South American side’s resilience as they secured the win with a narrow margin of 23-22 in the second half. In their final Group D match, Qatar struggled against a strong German team as they lost 0-2 (20-27, 16-26). Despite the efforts of Denguir who was the top scorer for Qatar with 12 goals, and Mohamed Ahmed Hassan who added eight, Germany finally prevailed as they snatched their third win in the tournament.