(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Reigning Olympic and European champions France lived up to their favourites tag to overcome a fighting surprise finalists Qatar 25-22 to win the 24th Men's Handball World Championship.
Yesterday at the Lusail Multipurpose Hall here, France, which last won in 2011, clinched their fifth world title, the first team to do.
Coach Claude Onesta's boys thus notched a memorable triple crown, adding to the Olympic and European title, thereby stamping their dominance on the sport.
Onesta's game plan yesterday was simple - stop Qatar's two most dangerous and consistent shooters, Zarko Markovic and Rafael Capote from scoring.
The plan worked for Les Blues as the two top scorers of the squad coached by Valero Rivera netted only one goal each until the 17th minute.
At the other end, France's Serbian-born Nikola Karabatic scored three times in the first 17 minutes as the pre-tournament favourites established a four-goal lead at 9-5 over the hosts, who were playing their maiden final.
Karabatic along with Daniel Narcisse's early firepower allowed France to take control over the proceedings and set a platform for victory.
At one stage France threatened to be a runaway winners taking a 13-7 lead in the 23rd minute.
But Qatar, backed by a vociferous capacity crowd, came back strongly through Markovic and Capote.
The duo scored four goals in the last six minutes of the first-half and with Danijel Saric's outstanding show between the posts, the hosts managed to narrow the score-difference to 14-11 by half-time.
In the second half, the hosts maintained the first half tempo and managed to narrow the goal difference to 18-17, 40 minutes into the match.
France increased the lead to 22-19 and then to 24-21.
And with three minutes left for the final whistle, Qatar's right-wing Abdulla Al Karbi missed two decisive chances, which in the end made a huge difference.
At the other end, France's Narcisse made the most of the chance he got to net his fourth goal in the last minute of the match to kick-off celebrations on the court and in the stands.
Karbatic top-scored for
France with five goals while Zarko netted seven and Capote six for Qatar.
Qatar's coach Rivera said his team gave a good display throughout the championship.
"I am proud of my team for their performance in the championship. They played good handball for 60 minutes today but to beat a team like France you need to play well throughout the match. I am very happy for everything. This country, this association and this team deserve this silver medal. I dedicate this achievement to
the Qatar Handball Association and to my three grandchildren," the Spaniard said.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.