(MENAFN- Gulf Times) President of the Qatar Handball Association (QHA) Ahmad Mohamed al-Shaabi has said that the national team aspires to be among the top 10 teams in the 27th IHF Men's World Championship which will be held in Egypt from January 13-31.
Al-Shaabi said in a press statement that Qatar always prepared well for the tournament, but this time the team's preparations were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
He said Qatar were keen to have a strong league with its high-level local and professional players, which would positively reflect on the team, but this did not happen last season due to the pandemic.
He added that prior to previous World Championships, Qatar used to have preparatory camps outside Qatar besides playing several friendly matches against top teams but they were not able to do so this time. The national team, managed to play only three friendlies in December - against Tunisia, Argentina Spain.
He pointed out that the impact of the pandemic on the preparations of other teams, especially the European teams, is relatively less, as they have strong competitive leagues and all their players are professionals. The presence of competitions such as the European Champions League raises their level of readiness, he said.
He explained that the stability of the technical staff led by Spaniard Valero Rivera is one of the positive factors that may narrow the gap with the strong European teams and the rest of the competing teams in the World Cup because they know the players well.
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