DOHA (Qatar): Qatar’s will play two international friendly games next month ahead of the 2021 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship to be held from Jan 13 to 31 in Egypt, the Qatar Handball Association (QHA) announced on Monday.
The squad is training at Duhail Indoor Sports Hall.
The two friendlies in December will precede an international friendly series involving Spain, Argentina and Tunisia.
The Four-Nation International Series will be held from Dec 25-29 at Duhail Indoor Sports Hall. Qatar, the host nation of the four-team event, is aiming to get the national squad to get maximum top-flight match practice as it prepares for the world championships.
A total of 32 teams will feature in the world championships and it will be Qatar’s 8th participation in the premier handball event. The Qatar squad is currently training in two sessions under Spanish coach Valero Rivera.
The players are undergoing extensive physical training, a team official said. Coach Rivera will announce the trimmed squad for the Four-Nation Series later. It is worth mentioning that
Qatar featured in Portugal 2003, Tunisia 2005, Germany 2007, Spain 2013, Qatar 2015, France 2017, Germany and Denmark 2019. Qatar finished the 2015 World Championship in second place as France won the event.
Qatar are in third group of 2021 World Championship along with Angola, Japan and Croatia.
