Team Qatar defeat Kuwait in Arab Men’s Volleyball Championship

Manama: The Qatari volleyball team defeated Kuwait 3-1 on Tuesday to lead their group B at the 23rd Arab Men's Championship currently taking place in Bahrain.  In the quarterfinals to be staged on Wednesday, Team Qatar will take on Iraq.   Eight teams are participating in the championship, distributed to two groups. Group A includes Oman, Iraq, Tunisia, and Bahrain, while Group B includes Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Lopez names Qatar squad for Uzbekistan and UAE qualifiers

Doha: Mohammed Muntari has made a comeback into the Qatar side after coach Marquez Lopez on Wednesday included the lanky forward in the squad for the crucial 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates.  Muntari recently made his return from a serious knee injury he sustained during Qatar’s friendly match against Cambodia ahead of the AFC Asian Cup in January. He subsequently underwent a surgery at the Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital and has completed a long period of rehabilitation.  The 30-year-old returned to action as a substitute for Al Gharafa in the Qatar Stars League on October 27 and promptly made an impact with a strike against his former club Al Duhail. He also came off the bench to score against Al Arabi last Thursday, but only made a brief cameo in Gharafa’s 1-1 draw against Persepolis in the AFC Champions League Elite match on Monday.   While Muntari’s return is undoubtedly a significant boost for Qatar, it remains to be seen how Lopez will integrate him into the starting XI. Qatar are in a spot of bother in their quest to qualify for the World Cup for the first time on merit.  The two-time Asian champions are on just four points from their opening four games, six adrift of Iran and Uzbekistan, who currently occupy the two automatic qualifying spots in Group A, and at risk of missing out once again on a place at the finals.  Qatar face a tough fixture against Uzbekistan at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha next Thursday, before travelling to Abu Dhabi to take on United Arab Emirates – to whom they have already lost to at home – at the Al Nahyan Stadium on November 19.   In their last World Cup qualifier, Qatar were convincingly beaten by Iran 1-4 and Lopez’s men will have to put in a much better performance against an in-form Uzbekistan if they harbour any hopes of keeping their chances alive.   Lopez has also drafted in Al Sadd’s midfielder Mustafa Tariq and Al Duhail’s left back Humam al-Amin, while leaving out Mohammed Ayash (Al Duhail), Naif al-Hadhrami (Al Shahania) and Ahmed Alaa (Al Arabi).   Despite a poor start to the campaign, Lopez has exuded confidence that Qatar can still reach the 2026 World Cup and has called on his players to fight tooth and nail in the remaining matches to achieve their target.   “Our goal has not changed, which is to qualify for the World Cup, and the opportunity is still there, although the group includes good teams such as Uzbekistan and Iran,” he said after the loss to Iran last month.   “The mission is not easy, but the opportunity to qualify is available and we have to fight for our chances until the last breath. There are still matches and many points that we must work hard to get. ”  Qatar have never qualified for the World Cup, only securing their place at the 2022 tournament as hosts, and the closest the nation has come to progressing through the preliminaries was ahead of 1998 France World Cup when they lost out to Saudi Arabia.   The top two finishers in each of Asia’s three qualifying groups advance to the World Cup while the third and fourth-placed nations progress to a further round of preliminaries.   Qatar squad  Goalkeepers:  Marwan Sherif (Al Ahli), Meshaal Barsham (Al Sadd), Saad al-Sheeb (Al Sadd), Salah Zakaria (Al Duhail)  Defenders: Abdelrahman Moustafa (Al Ahli), Abdullah Al Yazidi, (Al Sadd), Abdelkarim Hassan (Al Wakrah), Ahmed Fathy (Al Arabi), Ahmed Al Ganehi (Al Gharafa), Bassam Al Rawi (Al Duhail), Boualem Khoukhi (Al Duhail), Homam Al Amin (Al Gharafa), Ibrahim Al Hassan (Cultural Leonesa – Spain), Tarek Salman (Al Sadd), Sultan Al Brake (Al Duhail), Lucas Mendez (Al Wakrah)  Midfielders: Almahdi Ali (Al Wakrah), Ismaeel Mohammad (Al Duhail), Jassim Jaber (Al Arabi), Mohammed Waad (Al Sadd), Mostafa Tarek (Al Sadd), Yousef Abdulrazaq (Al Gharafa), Abdulaziz Hatem (Al Rayyan)  Forwards: Akram Afif (Al Sadd), Almoez Ali (Al Duhail), Edmilson Junior (Al Duhail), Mohammed Muntari (Al Gharafa).  

Final stage of Beach Handball Global Tour to begin on Wednesday

Doha: All the pressure is on host nation Qatar at the 2024 Men’s IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Finals this week in Doha.   The home side will not only face Brazil, Germany and world championship title-holders Croatia on home sand, but will be defending the title too after winning the debut edition last year, also held in Doha.   That title was won in front of well over 1,300 passionate home fans with Khalifa Al Jassim, Chair of Beach Handball and Assistant Secretary General of the Qatar Handball Association, well-aware of not only the benefits the host nation supporters bring, but also the added responsibility for his team.   “It is not easy task [to play at home]. We cannot always say that playing at home in front of our spectators will be a positive point for the team as even though you may feel at home, you will be under pressure,” he said.   “We are talking about playing the best teams in Beach Handball: we played Brazil in the final of the tour last year, Croatia are IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship champions and Germany are one of the best teams in the world, finishing fourth at the last world championship.”   And for Al Jassim, the event represents more than the games on the sand.   “As champions and hosts it is important to win it again and defending the title will push us to do more and more, as everyone will focus on us. Of course, we feel happiness qualifying, but the important impact of qualification give us more motivation to play and proves that Qatar deserves support.   “Since 2010 the Qatar Handball Association has hosted many events and we consider hosting the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Finals a special event,” explained Al Jassim. “Last year we organised a small Beach Handball tournament for clubs and players without teams as we noticed that many players enjoyed and liked it.”   Qatar coach Khaled Aly has been overseeing a change in generation of his men’s side, with key, long-term players like Mohamed Zaky retiring and a relatively small pool of players available to replace those he has relied on for years.   “It is normal,” explained Al Jassim about the squad changes Qatar will make for the finals event, compared to their team at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship last June where they finished 10th, their joint-worse ranking in the seven editions they have appeared in.  “We do not have a lot of Beach Handball players, so when any player retires, we make sure that the new player coming will be the same or better in the position.”   Whichever team Aly selects will face a tough test in Doha, with 2024 world champions Croatia the biggest obstacle in their way to take the title for a second, successive year.   “Whomever and wherever we play we want one thing: to win. Winning the title would be a really great end of a great year for Croatian Beach Handball,” said Croatia captain Ivan Juric to ihf.info about Croatia’s goal in Doha.   “We were very happy when we found out that we qualified for the finals. It will be a great way to prolong the Beach Handball season and to check the level of other teams in this off-season period. I will enjoy playing against top teams and players for the last time this year – the competition is fierce, but I want a medal, and I hope for gold. We have a good team and with a little bit of luck we can win.”   For Juric personally, 2024 has been an “amazing” year. His Croatia side defended their world championship title, taking the title in China, while his Croatian club side won the championship. As a guest player he also played in both the Portuguese and Spanish championships before winning an EHF Champions Cup with GRD Leça just last month. A familiar Croatia side features household names in the sport, but coach Mladen Paradzik ensures that the conveyor belt continues with Ivan Rukljac, a specialist from RK Bundek-Novi Zagreb, set to make his international debut.   And all four teams know each other well having played numerous times this year.   Qatar met Germany at stage 1 of the tour in Brazil in May with Germany winning both of their games against the Asian side, taking a 2-0 (17:16, 24:18) preliminary group and 2-1 (16:17, 22:12, SO 7:4) semi-final victory, while stage 2 in Spain saw Germany beat Portugal 2-1 (22:24, 20:19, SO 9:6) in the preliminary round.    All four teams played each other at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in China in June. Croatia beat Portugal 2-0 in the preliminary round, before seeing off Qatar and Germany by the same score in the main round. Croatia then defeated Portugal 2-0 again (27:24, 22:14) in the semi-final. Germany also played Portugal twice, defeating them 2-0 in the main round, but losing to them 0-2 (24:25, 18:20) in the bronze medal match. Portugal beat Qatar 2-1 in the man round, with Brazil handing the European side a 2-1 (17:15, 14:19, SO 10:8) quarter-final loss.   “All of the teams are old acquaintances, we have played many games against them,” explained Juric. “We haven’t met Brazil since 2019, with our last two meetings the 2018 world championship final and 2019 World Beach Games quarter-final. We lost both of them, so they are not the best memories to recall. I personally don’t want to lose against them three times in a row and I’m sure the rest of my team thinks the same – but they (Brazil) will surely be looking to bring home a medal.   “Qatar are hosts and title-holders so they are favourites in my opinion. I don’t know how Germany will look like since the finals are held in the middle of the indoor season, but the fact its being held during national teams’ week will surely help them assembling a team. It will be very interesting to see what our slightly modified team can do against three top teams.”  

Team Qatar win two gold medals in WTT Youth Contender Ismailia 2024

Ismailia: Team Qatar shone at the WTT Youth Contender Ismailia 2024, securing two gold medals and a silver as the tournament concluded on Friday.  Ahmed Eid of Team Qatar claimed gold in the U-17 singles competition, defeating Egypt’s Saif El-Din Kassem in a commanding final (3-0), with set scores of (11-7), (11-7), and (11-6).  Meanwhile, Youssef Abdullah brought home the gold in the U-15 singles, overcoming Egypt's Sayed Abdel Malek in another decisive match (3-0), with scores of (11-9), (11-7), and (11-9).  Adding to the team’s success, Abdulaziz Al-Abbad won a silver medal in the U-13 singles, finishing as runner-up after a close match against Egypt’s Aser Sameh (0-3), with set scores of (14-12), (11-4), and (13-11).  The tournament saw strong international participation, including teams from Egypt, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Libya, Malaysia, Palestine, Iraq, India, Algeria, UAE, Jordan, Austria, Kenya, and South Africa.

Al-Hamad explains the role of sports leadership in achieving success and overcoming challenges during QOC forum

DOHA – The Human Resources and Administrative Affairs Department of the Qatar Olympic Committee organized an educational forum titled (an  Hour of Knowledge ) on Monday  at the Lusail Hall, where His Excellency Dahlan Al-Hamad, President of the Asian Athletics Association, delivered an insightful lecture on the role of sports leadership in achieving success and overcoming challenges. HE President of the Asian Athletics Association and forum keynote speaker,  Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad shared his extensive experience and achievements in the sports field, discussing different leadership styles, how employees can turn  into successful leaders and administrators, What key factors should be considered when taking on an administrative role, and what are the common reasons for a leader or administrator's failure or shortcomings? Monday forum was attended by the QOC Secretary General H.E. Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain, Director of  QOC Sport Sector Sheikh  Khalifa  bin Khalid Al-Thani, Director of the QOC Support Services Sector Eng. Hamad Lahdan Al-Mohannadi , Legendary Qatari athlete Mutaz Essa Barshim ,  Directors of Departments, Heads of QOC’s sections, units and employees alongside staff  from sport federations and committees. At the conclusion of the forum , the QOC Secretary General H.E. Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain , honored H.E. Dahlan Al Hamad, President of the Asian Athletics Association, with a shield of appreciation for his efforts and fruitful contributions to the development of sports in Qatar over many decades. On this occasion,  Director of  Human Resources and Administrative Affairs Department,  Mrs. Maryam Mohammed Al-Kuwari said this  forum provides a valuable opportunity for employees to share ideas , exchange practical experiences and improves  individual and team performance. Investing in the human resources will remain a major pillar to all successful organizations Notably,   this  hour  of knowledge transfer  is one of the most important initiatives of  HR department  to  build up team spirit, to strengthen relations, to improve employee performance and to take QOC working environment to new grounds of success and creativity.  

Team Qatar line up for 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour Finals

Doha: Qatar’s national beach handball will participate in the third and final stage of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour to be held in Doha from 6 to 7 November.  Teams in each competition will battle it out to be crowned the ‘2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour Champions’, with Brazil and Germany fielding teams in both the men’s and women’s events, joined by Qatar and Croatia in the men’s competition and Portugal and Spain in the women’s competition. Three continents will be showcased in Qatar, with South America, Europe and Asia all represented at the Al-Gharafa Beach Venue, one of the venues which hosted beach handball at the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games and which also hosted the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Finals exactly a year previously, won by Qatar (men) and Brazil (women). Both 2023 champions return to defend their titles against those teams who qualified either as winners of 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour stages, as the host nation or as current IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championship title-holders. Portugal replaced Qatar in the women’s competition, as the hosts do not currently have a women’s team. The first three sessions of the four-session event next month will see the four teams in each competition play each other once, in the afternoon and evening on Wednesday 6 November and afternoon on Thursday 7 November. After the preliminary stage, the top two teams in each group will play-off directly in the final for the gold medal, and title, while the third and fourth-placed teams will do battle for bronze. The evening session on Thursday will feature the medal matches, with the men’s bronze-medal match taking place at 19:45 and final at 21:15, while the women’s bronze-medal match will be played at 19:00 and final at 20:30.