Doha: Hosts Qatar will seek to continue their dream run at the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship when they take on former champions Germany in the quarter-finals at Lusail Multipurpose Hall here today.
Also today, in the three remaining quarter-finals, defending champions Spain meet Denmark, while 2013 semi-finalists Slovenia take on France and Croatia square to Poland.
The clash between the Iberians and Scandinavians will be a rematch of the 2013 World Championship final, which Spain won 35-19.
A lot will be at stake when Qatar and Germany clash for the first time at an international competition.
The Asian Games gold medallist and Asian champions, the last non-European team left in the competition, have tasted their biggest international success and will be hungry for more success when they take on the 2007 World Champions at the 15,000 capacity stadium.
On Sunday, Qatar backed by a strong performance on court and support of a vociferous crowd, defeated Austria to reach their maiden quarter-finals of a world championship.
Playing a host nation is always a tricky equation which Austria discovered in the pre-quarter-final loss to Qatar. Germany too is wary of the strong crowd support the hosts enjoy.
“The Qatar fans will be even louder than the Egyptian fans in our quarter-final. I hope that we take the lead very fast so that the superiority of the other fans won’t be a decisive factor,” said German team captain Uwe Gensheimer.
The Germans won their pre-quarter-final match against Egypt.
Since winning the 2007 World Championship on home ground, his team never made it to another World Championship semi.
On the other hand, Qatar has already reached their main goal to finish among the best 16 teams, their best ranking at a World Championships. But backed by their fans and their great goalkeepers Saric and Goran Stojanovic, the host hopes to continue flying on the wings of success.
“We are all proud of what we achieved so far. It is a tournament that will always be remembered. No we want to go on fighting with the same hunger,” said Qatar’s top scorer Zarko Markovic. Markovic has scored 49 goals in the championship and is the second highest goal scorer of the championship.
On Friday, the winner of the Qatar-Germany will meet either Croatia or Poland.
The Peninsula
