(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar made history by becoming the first country outside Europe to ever reach the final of a men's handball world championship - but were in the end unlucky against France who stopped them from going all the way last night.
Before the Championship, Qatar had never defeated a European team in a competitive match but that certainly changed in this world championship.
Slovenia became their first European victims in the group phase, in the pre-quarter-final they won against Austria and in the quarter-final Germany had to bite the dust. Poland became the fourth team to be beaten by the new Qatari team, who qualified for the final by defeating the Poles 31-29 in the semi-final in the Lusail Multipurpose Hall of Doha.
And in the final they were at par with European, Olympic, and now again world champions, France. Until the 55th minute in yesterday's final, the team of coach Valero Rivera had gold in sight but were denied by an experienced French.
But a silver medal is quite a change compared to the last world championship two years ago in Spain, when the Qataris finished 20th.
On their way to the final, the home team lost only one match. The decisive match for first place in their preliminary group against Spain was lost 28-25 but Qatar still ended up in the final, while the Spaniards, defending world champions from 2013, had to play for bronze instead.
A strong goalkeeper duo played a great part in Qatar's success. Danijel Saric and Goran Stojanovic supported each other brilliantly over this competition.
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