Eight years ago, Qatar produced one of the biggest surprises in the IHF Men's World Championship history, taking the silver medal in the competition they hosted after the players led by legendary coach Valero Rivera produced a championship for the ages.

Since then, players have come and gone, with only four members of that squad returning for Poland/Sweden 2023, while Rivera is now entering his 10th year as the team's coach.

However, only two of them have taken part in each and every edition of the world handball flagship competition, with left back Rafael Capote and line player Youssef Ali playing for the fifth time at the IHF Men's World Championship at Poland/Sweden 2023.

The Asian champions, who have been dominating the continent since 2014 and won the gold medal at the AHF Asian Men's Handball Championship five times, kept their performance in check, finishing twice in eighth place at the IHF Men's World Championship at France 2017 and Egypt 2021 and adding a 13th place at Germany/Denmark 2019.

Capote has been instrumental in all those tournaments, scoring 129 goals in the matches he played. And despite his production dwindling in the past editions, he is still going strong at the age of 35, scoring five times and helping Qatar stay close to Germany in their debut at the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship in a 27:31 loss.

"Sure, it is a nice feeling to be back and try to help Qatar enjoy another good World Championship. It has been an amazing ride in all these years and looking closely, it was difficult to put everything together," says Capote to IHF.info.

"There are many highlights, some excellent memories, we have been together at all these events and we have also played at the Olympic Games, which has truly been something special," adds the left back.

The path has surely been quite long and some difficulties have appeared along the way, but Capote has stayed true to himself and has always been a reliable player for Qatar. It is no coincidence that only he, line player Ali, right wing Eldar Memišević and fellow left back Ameen Zakkar are still left from the team that won silver at Qatar 2015.

The match against Germany was his 89th appearance for Qatar, a team he has scored 341 goals for in the nearly 10 years he has represented the Asian side since he made the move to club side Al-Jaish in November 2013.

"Yeah, it is the fifth edition of the World Championship I am playing in and it is always something special to take up the challenges and try to deliver some good performances," adds Capote.

Qatar were a little out of luck at the draw for the preliminary round at Poland/Sweden 2023, being sent to Group E, where they face Germany, Serbia and Algeria, a group that should enable them to progress to the main round.

However, two strong European teams await them, and their first test against Germany was tough as always. Still, Qatar delivered a good game, excellent at times, and closed the gap to a single goal with 10 minutes to go, with Capote taking up the challenge of leading by example in the second half.

Scoring five goals and dishing one assist, he helped Qatar stay close. In the end, however, the Asian champions failed to take at least one point despite taking the game to Germany and applying some serious pressure.

"We always knew that this match would be tough and we felt it in the first half when it looked like they were going to win by a big margin. They are more experienced and play a very physical type of handball, but we adjusted and we were close to them in the second half," says the 35-year-old left back.

With five goals, he was the team's second top scorer, while captain Ahmad Madadi scored six times, but Capote is on pace to beat his 17-goal tally from Egypt 2021, where Qatar had the top scorer of the tournament, Frankis Marzo, with 58 goals.

At the age of 35, Capote is approaching the end of his playing career, which was crowned with a silver medal at the 2015 IHF Men's World Championship and four trophies at the AHF Asian Handball Men's Championship.

So what's the plan for him?

"I have been studying to get my coaching badges, so you will probably see me again in the future," says Capote with a big smile on his face.

His love for handball is still strong and he clearly enjoys what he is doing, being key for Qatar once again in a major international championship.

Will he follow in Rivera's footsteps? Maybe, maybe not. What is clear is that being coached for so many years by such a successful coach clearly leaves a mark or two. And Capote, with his huge handball IQ, might just be an excellent coach in the future.