Spain take warm-up honours in Qatar

One of the venues of the 2015 IHF Men’s World Championship in Qatar – the Duhail Hall in capital city Doha – hosted the ‘Qatar International Tournament’ over the past week (25-29 December).

The tournament featured South and Central American champions Argentina, African runners-up Tunisia, European champions Spain and host nation, and reigning Asian champions, Qatar.

All four teams were in the Asian country as part of their preparations for their participation at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship which starts in just under two weeks (13 January).

Six tight games were played in the round-robin competition with Spain taking the title overall, thanks to a final day 28:26 defeat of the Qataris, coached by Spaniard Valero Rivera. 

“We have gone from less to more,” said Spain player Alex Dujshebaev to the RFEBM website. “The first day it is true that we could not play at our best level, we also came from the trip and a little lacking in training. We have been improving in the games, today we had a great game against Qatar, which is a difficult team. The assessment is positive, and we have to keep working.”

Jordi Ribera’s Spain side now return home to prepare for their EHF EURO Cup 2022 matches against Croatia on 5 January in Porec, Croatia, and 9 January in Madrid, Spain.

Argentina, also led by a Spanish coach, Manuel Cadenas, finished third in Qatar, beating Tunisia by one (28:27) in their final match. The South American side had led 5:1 early on but the African champions came back. With just over 60 seconds remaining in the match, Tunisia had a chance to draw level from a seven-metre, but Argentina goalkeeper Juan Manuel Bar saved it to secure the win.

Cadenas’ side will travel to Moscow to face the host nation in another warm-up match in January, before travelling to Spain for further preparations.

RANKING

1 - Spain (5 points)
2 - Qatar (4)
3 - Argentina (3)
4 - Tunisia (1)

RESULTS

Friday 25 December
Qatar vs Tunisia 33:30 (18:14)

Sunday 27 December
Spain vs Tunisia 30:30 (14:14)
Qatar vs Argentina 24:22 (14:8)

Monday 28 December
Argentina vs Spain 31:33 (14:17)

Tuesday 29 December
Tunisia vs Argentina 27:28 (12:14)
Qatar vs Spain 26:28 (12:13)

Further information can be found at www.qatarhandball.com.

Photos: Qatar Handball Association