Tribune News Network
Hangzhou
Qatar’s men’s handball team continued its dominant show at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday defeating South Korea 31-27 in a clinical show in their second Group B match at the at the Zhejiang Gongshang University Sports Centre.
Qatar lead 16-12 at half time after their players demonstrated high technical abilities by shooting from outside the circle and on the right and left sides. Youssef Ali and Mustafa Haiba in particular stood out.
Qatar excelled in the second half as well especially in defence, relying on the “fast break” to challenge the speed of the South Korean players and succeeded in maintaining the goal difference with great defensive prowess.
Qatar had begun their campaign by beating Hong Kong 36-18 in the opening match.
Qatar player Wajdi Sinan said the team is focused on making it to the gold medal match. Against South Korea, he said that the players did not fall short and played with focus throughout.
He added that the team came to China setting sights on the gold medal that it has won in the past two Asian Games.
Player Youssef bin Alistressed that the team is looking forward to maintaining the momentum. “We realize the difficulty of the task with the presence of strong teams in this tournament, but with determination and persistence, we can win gold for a third time in a row,” he said.
Qatar’s beach volleyball stars to battle for gold today
On Thursday, Qatar’s beach volleyball stars Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will be gunning for their second consecutive Asian Games gold as they take on home favourites Abuduhalikejiang Mutailipu and Wu Jiaxin in the final. The World No. 3 - Younousse and Tijan- bronze medalists at the Tokyo Olympics, who brushed off the challenge from Kazakhstan’s Sergey Bogatu and Dmitriy Yakovlev 21-9, 21-19 in the semi-finals will start as favourites against Chinese pair Mutailipu and Jiaxin, who beat Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab 26-24, 21-16 in the second semi-final.
The final is scheduled for 8pm Doha Time.
