Qatar’s Ali Youssef prepares to shoot during their IHF Men’s World Handball Championship match against Angola in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday.
Qatar are hoping to bounce back from a shock defeat to debutants Angola as they face Egypt today in their second group match at the IHF Men’s World Handball Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Al Annabi, the 2015 finalists, suffered a 24-23 loss in their first match after Angola’s Rome Hebo fired the winner with just 15 seconds left following a close contest.
Asian Games champions Qatar started as favourites but failed to lived up to expectations both in defense and attack, paving the way for Angola to earn victory on World Championship debut.
Coach Valero Rivera described the loss as a collective failure, urging his ranks to forget the match to focus on the challenges ahead.
“We’ve played the most horrible game in over 5 years. They were better than us in almost every aspect of the game,” said Rivera.
“We missed a lot of chances. There is no excuse and all we can do is look forward to the next match and forget this game,” the head coach added.
Qatari player Wajdi Sinen said his team will try it’s best to make a strong comeback in the tournament.
“Things didn’t go well for us in the first match. Angola beat us because they were good and we weren’t. Hopefully we will do better in our next game against Egypt,” said the Lekhwiya star.
However, it will not be an easy game for Qatar against Egypt, who displayed an impressive performance against giants Sweden before going down 24-27 in their first match on Friday.
Despite the loss, Egypt coach, Venio Losert was happy on his team’s start in the tournament.
“Congratulations to all my players. It was a tough match, but we were fighting till the end. In moments we play on a very high level, but that wasn’t enough. Despite that, I am happy about our performance against a good team,” he said.
Egypt star Yehia Elderaa said his team will play for a win against Qatar after a tough game against Sweden.
“It was a tough start against a strong team, and we couldn’t do more than we did. We gave our best. Nothing is over, we have to keep focused on our next game against Qatar,” he said.
Group D also includes Hungary and Argentina. After today’s game, Qatar face Hungary tomorrow and will play against Sweden on January 16. They will meet Argentina in their final Group D match the following day.
