(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A 90-minute opening ceremony featuring international stars and a huge fireworks display will kick-start the 24th Men's Handball Championship (Qatar 2015) at the newly-constructed Lusail Multipurpose Hall here today.
The never-seen pyrotechnic displays will launch the 2015 edition of the International Handball Federation's (IHF) World Championship to be contested by twenty-four teams at three newly constructed state-of-the-art arenas.
Qatar 2015 will truly be a historic milestone for the world of handball as it will be the first single city to host a Men's Handball World Championship.
After 18 competition days the World Champion will raise the massive trophy on February 1 at the Lusail Multipurpose Hall.
After numerous inspections by the highest ranked IHF representatives and hosting two major test events € the IHF Super Globe in September and the Asian Clubs' League championship in November and December € Doha is indeed ready.
Four years after the IHF Council awarded the event to the Qatar Handball Association, Doha opens the gates to the world with the country's first ever team sport world championship, part of the country's National Vision 2030 to become the number 1 global hub for organising mega sporting events.
After an 18-month qualification process the 24 participants were confirmed in June 2014 € starting with host Qatar and 2013 World Champions Spain, who were the first two teams to clinch their berths € upon the conclusion of the various continental qualifying events.
Three teams which at first did not qualify - Germany, Saudi-Arabia and Iceland- entered the stage after subsequent decisions by the IHF Council. Now the field of participants is composed of 15 teams from Europe, led by world champions Spain and continental champion France; three Asian teams including host Qatar, who became Asian champions for the first time last January; three Pan-American teams including 2016 Olympic host Brazil and continental champions Argentina; and three teams from Africa, led by continental champions Algeria.
These 24 teams will start in four preliminary round groups, which will contested in three venues: the Duhail Sports Hall, Lusail Multipurpose Hall and Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena. The four best ranked from each group proceed to the eighth-finals where the group winners will face the fourth ranked teams and the second ranked will duel with the third ranked. The teams that finish in positions 5 and 6 in each group will compete in the Presidents' Cup in the Duhail Sports Hall for ranking positions 17 to 24.
The knock-out stage will be completed by the quarter-final and semi-final rounds, the bronze medal match and the final € and, in contrast to the 2013 World Championship in Spain, with a placement round for positions 5 to 8.
This determination of the final ranking is of crucial importance for the road to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. While the new World Champions will book their direct ticket for the Olympic handball tournament as the first team after host Brazil, the teams that finish in positions 2 through 7 will qualify for the Olympic Qualification Tournaments to be played in spring 2016.
In addition to the world champions, the winners of the continental qualifications from Asia, Africa, Pan America and Europe will also be awarded with a direct spot to Rio 2016.
Like the Organising Committee, Qatar's national team is ready for the big clash on home ground € and history has shown that hosts have made brilliant results in the previous World Championships. Just in recent years, hosts Spain (2013), France (2001) and Germany (2007) have taken the title. Croatia reached the final on home ground in 2009 and Tunisia sensationally reached the semi-final in 2005.
Qatar's coach Valero Rivera will also make history today when he leads Qatar in the opening match against Brazil, to become the first men's team coach to take part in two consecutive World Championship opening matches. In 2013, he was the head coach for the Spanish team.
The Qatari team enters in the field of play with great hopes and full of confidence after winning the Asian title and the handball tournament at the 2014 Asian Games. Qatar is the fourth country outside of Europe to host a Men's World Championship after Japan (1997), Egypt (1999) and Tunisia (2003).
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