Doha: Qatar got their preparations for the 2022 AHF Asian Handball Championship off to a flying start by defeating Kuwait 32-19 in the International Four-Nation Friendly Championship at the Al Duhail Indoor Arena on Tuesday.

The four-time Asian champions, playing their first competitive game since finishing eighth in the 2021 IHF World Championships in Egypt in January, displayed good coordination in both attack and defence.

Ahmad Madadi, Youssef Benali (both six goals), Frankis Marzo (five) and Rafael Capote (four) were Qatar’s main scorers. They combined well to lead the team’s raids and swiftly fell behind to defend in numbers.

Qatar’s Spanish coach Valero Rivera used the match to test different combinations by rotating the players. His experiments paid off as 12 Qatari players got their names on the scoreboard.

Qatar were always in firm control. With Frankis and Benali inflicting most of the early damage, the hosts led 18-13 at half-time. The team consolidated their lead in the second half and with 15 minutes left, led by 12 goals (27-15).

Except for Saleh (six) and Abdullah (four), none of the Kuwaiti players could make an impact. With Qatar’s 24-year-old goalkeeper Bilal Lepenica in good form, things became even more challenging for the Kuwaitis and they slipped to a big defeat.

Earlier, Iran got the better of Saudi Arabia 24-16 in the tournament opener.