(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
The Peninsula
Doha: Asian Champions Qatar will meet the reigning Olympic and World Champions Denmark today when Al Annabi kick off their campaign in the main round of the 27th IHF Men's World Championship in Cairo, today.
The match will kick off at 10.30pm Qatar time at the Cairo International Stadium.
In the main round, Qatar's other Group 2 counterparts include Croatia, Japan, Argentina, and Bahrain.
The two teams ranked first and second in each group, qualify for the quarterfinals at the start of the elimination rounds in the tournament.
Qatar made it to the main round of the 32-team event after finishing second in Group C in the preliminary round in which they defeated Angola (30:25) and Japan (31:29). They went down fighting to Croatia in their third match on Tuesday.
Qatar coach Valero Rivera hailed his team's performances despite the loss in the final preliminary round match.
On Tuesday, Croatia got in front in the first period with a 13:11 lead over Qatar, in a tense 30 minute period before snatching a 26:24 win over the Asian giants.
Rivera said that he accepts the defeat, adding that "it's a game you will win a day and loss in another day.'
'Croatia is a great team as they are the runners-up of European Championship, Rivera said.
'We performed well during the game as secured a place in the main round after competing in a tough group, the Spanish coach said.
"All the teams that we faced during the last stage were strong, so I feel satisfied with the results we achieved and our success in qualifying for the main role and getting second place in the group," Rivera added, noting that the next stage will be more powerful as all the teams strive to defend their chances of qualifying.
Qatar captain Ahmad Madadi said that they played a tough game against Croatia, confirming he is proud of his teammates' performance.
'We will concentrate on the coming games in the main round of the World Championship, Madadi said.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the Egypt World Championships have informed the International Handball Federation that all new COVID-19 PCR tests have returned with negative results.
Several more positive COVID-19 tests were recorded few days ago in addition to the Danish case and the confirmed cases were immediately isolated.
"The outcome confirms that the main risk for positive COVID-19 cases to occur was upon arrival, when the teams entered the bubble," the organisers announced yesterday..
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