(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Fawad Hussain I The Peninsula
Qatar made a strong comeback at the IHF Men's World Handball Championship, overcoming a spirited Egyptian team 28-23 to register their first victory in Copenhagen, Denmark, yesterday.
Al Annabi displayed significant improvement in their second game of the tournament and were better both in defense and goal execution, than in their opening game, which they shockingly lost to debutants Angola 23-24.
The 2015 edition runners-up showed their intentions of securing full points right from the start and never conceded a lead against Egypt, who went down fighting to giants Sweden 24-27 after a gutsy show in their first match.
However, Egypt came even with the Asian Games champions on few occasions, adding excitement in the match.
With 20 minutes gone into the first half, Egypt levelled the score 8-8 and were locked 11-11 again after 5 minutes.
But, Qatar blocked a couple of moves in the final five minutes and availed their opportunities to go into the second half with a 15-12 lead.
The coach Valero Rivera's side looked even better in the second half particularly after Egypt levelled the score 17-17 for third time in the match. Qatar, then went on scoring five successive goals to build a strong lead to take things beyond their African rivals.
Egypt never posed threat after the lead with Al Annabi eventually collecting their first winning points with a 28-23 victory.
Qatar face Hungary today and will play against Sweden on January 16. They will meet Argentina in their final Group D match on January 17.
Meanwhile, in other matches yesterday, Macedonia overcame Bahrain with an identical score of 28-23 while Croatia reigned supreme over Japan 35-27.
MENAFN1301201900630000ID1097970071
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.