DOHA: Qatar stunned Qatar European champions Denmark 2-1 in a thriller, bouncing back from their 0-2 loss against Norway in the main round of the IHF Beach Handball World Championships at the Karteros Beach Sports Center in Heraklion, Greece, yesterday.
Nowraddine Denguir Amir played a brilliant role in Qatar’s win, scoring 23 points while Marwan Kakhi Hani added 16 points as the two-time bronze winners edged the Danish men 25-24, 22-23, 12-10 in the shoot-out.
Earlier in their opening Group 2 match yesterday, Al Annabi suffered a setback when they went down to a strong Norwegian team in straight sets 22-23, 26-28.
Amir scored 16 points while Ahmad Murad Abdulrazzaq and Marwan Kakhi Hani added 12 and 14 points respectively but that was not enough to help Qatar see off the Norwegians, who later lost to five-time world champions Brazil in straight sets (22-24, 17-23).
In other matches in Group 2, Iran, the only other Asian team at the Championships, beat Portugal 2-1 (22-24, 19-18, 8-6), Denmark defeated Portugal 2-1 (25-18, 16-21, 7-6) and Brazil beat Iran 2-0 (17-12, 15-12).
Qatar are placed third in Group 2 with four points while the reigning champions Brazil are leading the table with eight points.
Denmark are third with six points. Qatar will take on the Asian champions Iran in a repeat of the Asian Championship final in their last Group 2 match today.
Top four teams of each of the groups advance to tomorrow’s quarter-finals.
