Qatar Team in Seville for 23rd World Handball Championship

Seville, Spain January 08 (QNA) - Qatar national handball team arrived in Spain Monday night to participate in the 23rd edition of the World Men's Handball Championship starting January 11 to 27. Qatar Handball Association (QHA) board member Adel Hilal Al Anzi, accompanied by Team Director Yousef Mohammed Al Hail, is leading the 19-member Maroon contingent which is placed in a tough Group B comprising Denmark, Macedonia, Iceland, Russia and Chile. Qatar, ranked 36th on the International Handball Federation(IHF) play their first match against Denmark at 8.15pm Saturday in Palacio de deportes San Pablo. The match between Chile and Macedonia earlier at 3.45pm at the same venue will open the 23rd edition of the championship. Iceland will take on world no 2 Russia in the second match at 6pm. World No 1 Germany will play Brazil, in a Group A match, at 4pm on the same day at Palacio De Los Deportes De Granollers. Followed by matches between Argentina and Montenegro, and France and Tunisia. In Group C encounters, Serbia will play South Korea at Pabellon Principe Felipe in Zaragoza. Saudi Arabia will play Slovenia and Poland will play Belarus. In Group D matches, also on Saturday, hosts Spain will play Algeria, Croatia will face Australia and Hungary will clash with Egypt at Caja Magica in Madrid. Although Germany are the current number one ranked team, Romania and Sweden are the powerhouses of World Handball Championships - both have won it four times. Romania's first title came in 1961 when they beat Czechoslovakia in the final to avenge their pool round defeat. The title win by Romanians was surprising as they had finished 13th in the third edition of the championship in 1958, hosted by German Democratic Republic in Erfurt, Berlin and Magdeburg. Romania also won the 1964 championship held in Czechoslovakia, beating Sweden, 25-22, in the closely contested final. The Romanians finished third in the sixth edition hosted by Sweden and won by Czechoslovakia who, after four World Championships with silver or bronze medals, finally bagged the gold medal. Romania reaffirmed their domination when they won the title in France and German Democratic Republic in 1970 and 1974 respectively. Sweden won the second edition before home fans, beating West Germany in 1954. The Swedes won the next one in 1958 and after a long gap won again in 1990 and 1999, beating in both the finals Russia who also have a strong presence in the championship. They have won it thrice - as Soviet Union in 1982 and as an independent Russia in 1993 and 1997 after France won its maiden title in 1995. The World Championship has been hosted the maximum number of times by West Germany (5) and once in 2007 as Germany. Sweden has hosted it four times and France twice. Qatar will host the 2015 edition. In their maiden appearance in the tournament in 2003 in Portugal, Qatar had finished fourth in the tough Group B comprising Germany, Iceland, Portugal, Australia, and Greenland. Qatar Handball Association President Ahmed Al Shaabi hoped the team would perform well. He admitted the task was difficult considering they are place in a tough group having four European teams, but the team has prepared well for this major championship, he said. (END)