(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Hosts Qatar aiming for their best ever performance at the world championship will look up to the magic wand of their Spanish-born coach Valero Rivera (pictured) when they open their campaign against Brazil in the Group A clash here today.
The 61-year-old from Zaragoza, who coached his home nation to the championship in 2013 in his home town of Barcelona, is targeting a place in the quarter-finals for his team, the best result till date for Qatar for any World Championships.
The hosts have not been able to make it to the quarter-finals in the previous four World Championships.
The best performance came in Portugal where they picked up the 16th spot, in 2005 they came a distance 21st and in 2007 and in 2013 picked up the 23rd and 20th places.
However, recent form and good results have given the hosts lot of hope.
Qatar finished their final preparations unbeaten after they had already proved their ambitions for the international stage by winning both the Asian Championship and the Asian Games handball tournament, each for the first time in 2014.
Coach Rivera remains upbeat ahead of the opening clash.
"The team has shaped up well and I'm pleased with our boys' performances. There are still a few areas for improvement, but my team is ready. It's now only a matter of being at our best on game days," said Rivera, who took over as Qatar coach in April, 2013.
After the opening clash with the South Americans the hosts will then play Chile on Saturday before taking on Slovenia on January 19, followed by world champions Spain on January 21 and Belarus in the concluding group match on January 23.
"We're in a very strong group. We'll play Brazil first, then Chile, Slovenia, world champions Spain and Belarus in that order. It's going to be a very difficult competition. But I've full faith in our work and my boys. We've had dedicated preparations for the event. I don't think it would've been possible to start so early in any other country," Rivera said.
"For example, at the '08 Beijing Olympics, I got just 15 days to train the Spanish side which, nevertheless, won bronze. In Spain, the situation is more or less the same during any major competition. But the experience in Qatar has been in direct contrast to it. I got almost a year to prepare the players. It's something I couldn't have even dreamt of during my coaching stints in Spain," added.
On the other hand, Brazil are hoping to show their improvement after reaching the quarter-finals in 2013. They missed advancing to the quarter-finals after a narrow 27-26 defeat against Russia.
The opening match of Qatar 2015 will be a duel of two Spanish-born coaches as Brazil's head coach Jordi Ribera also comes from the famous handball school of the Iberian country.
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