Esperance Tunis (TUN) vs. Handebol Taubaté (BRA) 32:31 (18:16)

Al-Ahli Sports Club (QAT) vs. Sydney University HC (AUS) 25:24 (13:11)

 

It was only one little step but finally the team of Coach Philipp Enders missed the historical chance to win their first match at a Super Globe tournament ever. The tired team from Al-Ahli Sports club stumbled at the placement match for seventh rank to a lucky 25:24-victory. Both teams performed basically on eye level, Sydney impressed with team spirit, the host had better individual possibilities. Finally it was a “millimetre-decision”, and both – the unlucky Australians and Al-Ahli were happy, that the hard tournament - five matches on six days is over.

 

The placement match for the fifth rank was exciting. Taubaté was leading for the first 20 minutes, than the team from Tunis caught up and dominated the match for a long period. But the Brazilians never gave up and the match developed to a match on eye level. One minute before the end the team from Pan-America had the chance to draw the result – but they made a mistake and the match was decided with 32:31 for Tunis. The representative from the African Continent finished as fifth, Taubaté as sixth team on the same rank as the year before.

Mihailo Radisavjevic (coach from Al-Ahli): It was a big task to win but it was very difficult. We missed a lot of possibilities. Finally we acted with a little bit more luck. I have to thank the team from Sydney for their fair play during the whole match.

Frantisek Sulc (player from Al-Ahli): It was a psychological problem for us -a tournament without head coach, without a really good preparation. We were invited late and we are coming directly from holiday trips without fitness. So it was not enough time to integrate our new players. Last but not least: We didn’t play a good tournament. Today Sydney was the strong partner. They fought like lions.

Philipp Enders (coach from Sydney): My team played well and I only missed the last step – we forgot to shoot goals. Finally I have to resume that my team improved significantly. At the last years we were praised for fighting spirit, this year we played also handball.

Diego Llorrente (player from Sydney): Thanks to the organisation, thanks to our host who allowed us to go to Doha. We learned a lot and I can resume that our improvement is significant. We were playing on higher level than the tournaments before.

Nejib Ben Thayer (coach from Tunis): Thanks for the possibility to participate at the tournament. Both teams performed very well today. My team missed the start but after our team time out we found solutions to fight with more success against the strong defence from Taubaté. After the break our performance was quite well for a long time but at the end of the match we lost too many balls. I’m happy about our victory. Taubaté increased its performance day by day.

Marcus Oliveira (coach from Taubaté): The first half we fought very hard. But Tunis found a way to adapt their defence. Finally we lost the match but all in all we did our job very well.

Guilherme Olivieira (player from Taubaté): We are disappointed a little bit. Our goal was to finish better than the last year. We hope we can come back stronger next year.