Qatar Team to leave for Bahrain on Wednesday for Asian Men's Handball Championship

Doha: Qatar handball team will leave for Bahrain on Wednesday to partake in the 21st Asian Mens Handball Championship set to take place from Jan. 11 to 25, 2024. In the competition that serves as a qualification tournament for the 29th IHF Men’s Handball World Championship scheduled to be held in Croatia, Denmark, and Norway in 2025, Qatar is placed in Group A along with Kuwait, Oman, and Chinese Taipei. In the group stage, the team will take on Chinese Taipei on Friday, followed by Oman on Sunday and Kuwait on Tuesday. Group B includes Iran, Republic of Korea, China, and New Zealand, while Group C has Saudi Arabia, Iraq, India and Japan. Group D is made up of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan Qatar is the defending champion, boasting an impressive record of five straight victories in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022.   

Exciting start for WTT Star Contender Doha 2024

Doha: The WTT Star Contender Doha 2024, organized by the Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) in cooperation with the World Table Tennis (WTT), began yesterday at Lusail Sports Arena until Jan. 13 as part of the four combined international series. Yesterday's competitions were strong and exciting, and witnessed the holding of the first qualifying round for the categories of singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles. QTTA invited a number of promising Qatari players to participate in order to gain experience and interact with the world champions and top seeds. Qatar's table tennis team player and Arab champion, Mohammed Abdul Wahab, along with Aya Majdi will start their participation in the tournament from the main round. The total prize pool comes in at USD 250,000 with each of the event winners also taking home 600 ITTF World Ranking Points.   

Wild card entries and WTT nominations unveiled for WTT Contender Doha 2024

Doha: Staging its second WTT Series event of the 2024 season, Doha welcomes table tennis stars from across the globe for another exciting week of action at WTT Contender Doha 2024. With a little over a week to go before play gets underway, the list of Host Wildcard entries and WTT Nominations for the event has been unveiled: The standout name amongst the group of Host Wildcards is that of Timo Boll. A table tennis icon for the ages, Boll brings the magic and stardust to the seven-day event, and the former World No.1 is out to make a statement with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the close horizon. Boll is yet to clinch a breakthrough title on the WTT Series, a stat he’ll be desperate to correct at Lusail Sports Arena. Sharath Kamal Achanta also lands a Host Wildcard ticket for WTT Contender Doha, and has fond memories of the event. In 2022, the Indian stalwart enjoyed an impressive run to the semifinals, his best performance on the WTT Series to date. Two years on, Achanta’s sights will be set just as high as he returns to the Qatari capital on a mission. Local hero Mohammed Abdulwahhab is the third player to receive a Host Wildcard spot in the Men’s Singles event, while another Qatar player Aia Mohamed is granted the same status in the Women’s Singles draw. Posting a notable semifinal finish at last season’s WTT Contender Lagos 2023, Kim Nayeong is also a confirmed Host Wildcard for Doha, along with WTT Feeder Amman 2023 runner-up Audrey Zarif, who like Kim, will be eyeing a strong start to the new season. WTT also reserves the right to award one WTT Nomination in each of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events, with Martin Allegro and Karoline Mischek the beneficiaries. Posting a notable semifinal finish at last season’s WTT Contender Lagos 2023, Kim Nayeong is also a confirmed Host Wildcard for Doha, along with WTT Feeder Amman 2023 runner-up Audrey Zarif, who like Kim, will be eyeing a strong start to the new season.  

Wang Chuqin wins WTT Final title

Doha: Wang Chuqin has successfully defended his Men’s Singles crown at the end of season WTT Finals after lighting up Lusail Sports Arena with a jaw-dropping 4-0 victory over top seed Fan Zhendong (11-8, 11-9, 14-12, 11-7) on a final day to remember at WTT Finals Men Doha 2023. Lifting the trophy for the first time at WTT Cup Finals Xinxiang 2022, Wang was bidding to become the first player to successfully retain the Men’s Singles title at the event, but knew he’d have a mammoth task on his hands with WTT Cup Finals Singapore 2021 champion Fan awaiting in Friday’s final. Trailing the rivalry with a 3:9 record heading into the match, Wang had lost three of the four encounters the two had contested in the 2023 season, including the title match at the 2023 ITTF World Championships Finals in Durban. However, the last time the players met it was Wang who celebrated victory, beating Fan to the 2023 Asian Games title in October, and fate would smile on the 23-year-old again three months later.  On the other hand, Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng pulled out one more surprise from their bag of tricks as they won the inaugural WTT Finals Men's Doubles title yesterday in Doha. It was a case of youth trumping experience as Yuan and Xiang saw off the experienced pairing of Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong in straight games (11-8, 11-2, 11-8).  

Qatar loses preparatory friendly match to Jordan

Doha: The Qatari national football team on Saturday lost 1-2 to Jordan, in a friendly match that took place at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium at Al Gharafa Club as part of the two teams' preparations for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, which Doha will host starting on January 12 and continuing until February 10. Akram Afif scored for the Qatari team in the 16th minute from a penalty kick, while the goals for the Jordanian team were scored by Yazan Al Naimat in the 50th minute and Ali Alwan in the 57th minute from a penalty kick. The match was held without media or public spectators, according to the agreement of the technical staff of the two teams, in order to preserve the confidentiality of the preparations before the kick-off of the competitions. This is the second and last test for the Qatari team during the preparation camp, as it previously faced the Cambodia team on Dec. 31, and won 3-0.  

Qatar to take on Jordan ahead of Asian Cup

Doha: Qatar will take on Jordan today in what will be their final friendly before they open their AFC Asian Cup title defence on January 12 at the Lusail Stadium. The game is Qatar’s second friendly to be played behind closed doors in Doha after they defeated Cambodia 3-0 with striker Almoez Ali smashing a hat-trick on Sunday. Coach Marquez Lopez on Wednesday announced a 26-player squad for the Asian Cup with Al Duhail’s Khaled Mohamed and Ismail Mohamed replacing Osama al-Tairi and Mohamed Muntari, who were injured during the training camp underway at Aspire Academy. After meeting Lebanon in their opening game at the Asian Cup, Qatar will meet Tajikistan at the Al Bayt Stadium on January 17, before their final group stage match takes place on January 22 against China at the Khalifa International Stadium. Coached by Hussein Amouta – a former Al Sadd tactician – Jordan are in Group E of the Asian Cup with their opening match scheduled against Malaysia on January 15 at Al Janoub Stadium. They will also face pre-event favourites South Korea and Bahrain in the group stage. Before starting their Asian Cup campaign, Jordan will also play a friendly against Japan on January 9. Jordan will enter today’s match with a seven-match winless streak as Amouta is yet to secure a win since taking over last summer.