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Date: 8/31/2012
 

The IHF Super Globe is an integral part of the preparations for the 2015 Men’s World Championship in Qatar – this is what IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa concluded in a media conference held in Doha on Friday 31 August. “To be here in Qatar for the fourth time and the third consecutive time since 2010 means one step forward towards the World Championship”, Moustafa said. He shared the teams’ opinion that the IHF Super Globe organization proved really good again. The IHF President additionally underlined the importance of promotion for the tournament by the TV live coverage and Internet streaming assured by TV station Al-Kass and the coverage of the tournament by international media from both Arabic and European countries.


“The IHF Super Globe is like a warm-up for 2015. We have to attract spectators, and handball must reach the hearts of the people in the Gulf Region. The World Championship is the most important event for the IHF to acquire new markets and to attract the general public and media, especially TV. And there is no doubt that the 2015 Men’s World Championship, organized by the Qatar Handball Association, will become the best World Championship ever. Qatar will host an event that will attract worldwide attention. Maybe Qatar is a small country, but their heart for handball is big. And we are eager to support Qatar in their preparations.”


In Moustafa’s opinion it is important to have host countries outside Europe: “Handball’s  worldwide development is mainly encouraged by countries hosting handball events.  Hosting a World Championship in Qatar means a major step not only for handball in Qatar or the Gulf Region but for Asia and the world.”


For Moustafa, Qatar has become a top organizer in the world of sports, as they host no less than 35 major events solely in 2012. And preparations for the 2015 World Championship are in full swing. New arenas are being built, including a hall with a capacity of 17,000 spectators. “For the London 2012 Olympic Games I had proposed to build a 8,000-seat handball arena, but during the Olympic Games in London, I realized I was wrong, as I saw that handball in London could also have big arenas, as all matches, also the matches in the bigger arena in the knock-out round with 12.000 spectators, had been sold out.”


Moustafa mentioned the 2015 Qatar WCh bid including its ‘no-empty-seat policy. “And the Qataris will come up to these expectations.” The preparations will be carefully supervised by the IHF by means of a well-defined timetable including permanent progress reports.


Returning to the IHF Super Globe, Moustafa was impressed by the large number of spectators, also coming from Egypt and Saudi-Arabia to support their teams of Zamalek and Mudhar. And he mentioned that the tournament had tremendously progressed since the beginning: “It is very positive that Qatar organizes the IHF Super Globe annually to enable teams from all five continents to face the best teams of the world. And clubs like Al-Sadd or Zamalek have meanwhile bridged the gap between top clubs like Kiel and Madrid and themselves; there was only little difference in their performance.”

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