Men’s Group C: Qatar, Oman, Australia, Denmark
Qatar
The dominant men’s Asian side have two bronze medals in the past two editions of the IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship, becoming one of the best teams in the world after not competing at the 2004, 2006 and 2008 editions.
Their debut, in 2010, saw a 10th-place finish which was then followed in 2012 by a seventh-place finish before those two medals in 2014 and 2016. Another bronze medal at the 2017 World Games confirmed that Qatar have become a team to be reckoned with – they beat Hungary 2-1 in a shoot-out, after Qatar had lost to Croatia in the semi-finals. Wins over Brazil, Uruguay and Group C opponents in Kazan, Australia, had seemingly set the path to a gold medal, but it was not to be for the Qatari’s.
Qatar successfully defended their Asian Beach Handball title in Thailand, beating Group C opponents Oman 2-0 in the final, Vietnam 2-0 in the semi-finals and Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan and Oman for the first time, in the group stages. Having not lost a set in Thailand, Qatar will be hoping that their preparation for Kazan provides enough competition to set them up with the possibility of playing in the final.
Oman
The Sultanate of Oman hosted the fifth edition of the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championship at the Mussanah Sports City back in 2012 where the men’s side finished eighth, but their seventh-place finish last time around in Budapest is the highest they have ranked at a World Championship in the five editions they have participated in.
Coached by the experienced Hamood al Hassani, Oman had a number of internal preparation camps to prepare for Kazan 2018, which include Iran visiting for a match series and an external camp in Croatia.
“Oman beach handball team is ranked as one of the top teams at Asian level,” said Moosa al Balushi, General Secretary at Oman Handball Association, before Kazan 2018. “Reaching the World Championship again is an indication of Oman’s top performance in this game.”
Al Hassani, who has been with the team since 2012, was happy with his group after the draw event in Kazan. “We have been drawn in a good group as it features our traditional Asian rival, Qatar, along with Australia and Denmark,” he said to local media. “I believe that we can advance to the next stage from the group. We have played against Qatar and both teams know each other well. The team that makes less mistakes on the day will prevail. Qatar beat us for the Asian title last year and we will be looking to defeat them this time around.
“We have the confidence to defeat Australia, but Denmark will be favoured to win against us, although we will prepare well and fight hard.”
Australia
The Australian men continue with their fifth consecutive appearance at a Beach Handball World Championship, where they have finished last in three of their four previous appearances. Despite their results, the Aussies have had a number of close encounters as they continue their impressive development on the world stage, most notably taking eventual world champions Croatia to a shoot-out in their preliminary group game after winning the first period 18:16 thanks to an impressive performance from Lucas Turecek.
Sixth-place at the 2017 World Games came courtesy of a 2-0 win against Egypt in the 5-8 placement round after beating Uruguay in the preliminary round and they followed it up winning the Oceania Championships in Adelaide in February, with a team led by Head Coach Patrik Weiss and Assistant Coach Andrew Kelso.
Weiss moved to Australia in 2003 after playing handball in Germany and started playing and coaching at local and state level, before being appointed to the role of Head Coach in 2015.
Denmark
The self-styled ‘Heart of Handball’ Denmark has not made a big impression in the beach handball podium positions with the men’s team registering a fifth and fourth-place finish in their two previous World Championship appearances, in 2010 and 2014.
Now they are back on the global stage, thanks to being called up as substitute nation for the teams from the continent of Africa, which did not organise a continental qualification event.
At the 2017 Men’s EHF EURO Beach Handball Championship in Croatia last year Denmark beat Netherlands (2-1), Poland (2-0) and Germany (2-0) in the preliminary round but lost to heavyweights Spain, Russia and Hungary in shoot-outs (2-1). A 2-1 loss against Ukraine in the main round put paid to their further qualification, despite a 2-0 win over neighbours Norway.
However, they could not make it a full sweep of their bordering countries as Sweden beat them 2-0 in the 5-8 placement round. Another 2-0 victory over Norway, ensured a seventh-place finish which would eventually see them qualify for Kazan 2018.
Photos: IHF, Handball Australia, Danish Handball Federation