Qatar have made history again and booked a date for the finals with a hard fought semi-final win over Poland in a packed Lusail Multipurpose Hall.

It was all smiles, dancing and cheering from players, fans, and Qatar Handball Federation officials who dashed to the court to celebrate after the last whistle of the encounter.

The win makes Qatar the only non-European nation and the first from the Asian region to qualify for this stage of the competition. 

Poland-Qatar 29:31 (13:16)

As expected, it was clear from the outset the match would be a tough one with the teams engaging in a scoring battle that saw Poland leading by just one ten minutes in (6:5). 

Poland maintained their lead with the momentum behind them even with Slawomir Szmal not at his best and with players out on two minute suspensions. 

The home team rallied to narrow the lead and level the score at 11:11 in the 20th minute, thanks largely to left back Rafael Capote, who netted his fifth goal of the match at this point.

At 23 minutes Qatar had created a two-goal lead (12:14) by making the most of Poland’s missed chances. 

After being brought into the goal around the 10th minute, Danijel Saric quickly began to make heroic saves that ultimately earned him the adidas Man of the Match award and contributed greatly to the Qatari win.

With a minute to the break, Capote scored his sixth of the day to give his team a 13:16 advantage at half-time.

Polish left back, Michal Jurecki (nine goals total) also found the back of the net six times in the half to be on par with Capote.

After the breather, the home team looked more aggressive defensively compared to their opponents.

It was a bad day for Qatar’s usual top scorer, Zarko Markovic, who recorded only his second of the match in the 39th minute – but it gave his team a 16:20 lead nevertheless.

Saric continued from where he left off with great saves to deny Poland a comeback as the match entered the last 15 minutes.

The home team maintained a three-goal lead (24:27) five minutes before the end of the match. 

Poland answered every Qatar goal quickly as both team’s defensive systems began to fall apart, but the lead did not change and Qatar were still two goals ahead with one minute 30 seconds to go (27:29). 

A penalty for Qatar at this point put the hosts three ahead (27:30) as the clock ticked into the last minute.

When a lost ball from Poland led to Szmal coming out of the goal in an attempt to steal the long pass from Qatar, Mahmoud Hassab Alla scored an easy fast break in an open goal to seal the two-goal victory. 

“This is a success. This is the first team that non-European team that made it to the final, and I very very happy for the country, for the players, for the Federation, and people that work in the sport, especially in handball,” said Qatar coach Valero Rivera after the match.