(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Two time-bronze medallists Qatar missed out on an opportunity to secure their third medal at the IHF World Beach Handball World Championship after going down to hosts Greece in shoot-out in a thrilling quarter-final yesterday.
At the Karteros Beach Sports Center in Heraklion, the five-time Asian champions took an early lead in their quarter-final clash against the hosts, before the tournament debutants bounced back to clinch a 2-1 (20–21, 19–14, 15–14) win to advance to the semi-finals.
Later, Qatar bounced back with a 2-1 (24–27, 22–20, 4–7) win over Norway to book their place in the fifth-place play-off against Uruguay.
Qatari veteran Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, who played a major role in Al Annabi's bronze-winning runs in both 2014 and 2016, expressed his disappointment, but said now the team will target the fifth place, which will assure them a place in next year's ANOC World Beach Games in Indonesia.
“We played maybe five friendly matches with them (Greece) before the World Championship and they were never like this. They have evolved. They have corrected their mistakes. They did a very good game and are evolving. They will get a medal in this one. Of course I'm feeling sad for us to be like this, but I'm a bit satisfied because now we're playing with six players, plus two goalkeepers. We have two out. We did our best we took it to the end, but that's is beach handball,” Hassan said after yesterday's loss against the hosts.
“Now we have to think about the fifth place that will guarantee us a place in the next ANOC and this is the most important thing right now. Then we will see what we are going to do in Birmingham in the World Games next,” Hassan said.
Apart from Greece, reigning champions Brazil, Denmark and Croatia also made it to the semi-finals following yesterday's wins.
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