Qatar gears up to host Asian qualifiers for 2016 Rio Games

9/21/2015 1:24:27 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)Qatar Handball Association (QHA) President Ahmed Al Shaabi (centre) addressing the Secretary General’s and Heads of various Qatari clubs at QHA Headquarters in Doha recently. Mohammed Jaber Al Mulla (right) QHA Secretary General Khalifa Taiseer QHA Assistant Secretary General and Dr Mohammed El Amin QHA technical expert also attended the meeting.

Doha: Qatar Handball Association (QHA) President Ahmed Al Shaabi met with Secretary General’s and Heads of various Qatari clubs at QHA Headquarters on Thursday for the successfully and smooth hosting of the Asian Men’s qualification tournament for the 2016 Rio Games.

The QHA chief Al Shaabi in his welcome speech thanked the clubs’ for their cooperation with the QHA at both the managerial and technical levels.

He also urged the representatives of the local handball clubs to continue in the same vein for the upcoming the Asian Qualification tournament for the 2016 Games.

Mohammed Jaber Al Mulla QHA Secretary General Khalifa Taiseer QHA Assistant Secretary General and Dr Mohammed El Amin QHA technical expert attended the meeting.

Qatar which hosted the World Championship in January this year and finished second will be one of the 12 teams which will be vying for a place for the Olympic Games to be held in the Brazilian city from August 5 to 21 next year.

The ten-day event will be held from November 14 to 23 and the teams have been divided into two groups.

Hosts Qatar are placed in Group B along with Iran Saudi Arabia Oman Japan and Uzbekistan.

Group A consists of Bahrain Korea Kuwait Iraq China and Australia.

Qatar silver medallists at this year’s 24th Men’s Handball World Championship in Doha is aiming to qualify for the Olympics for the first time.

The six teams which qualified from the 2015 World Championship in Qatar will be joined by six continental teams with the best records in the qualifying tournaments in different continents. The 12 teams will contest in three Olympic qualification tournaments to be played in three different continents and which will be held in April 2016. The two best ranked teams of each of these three tournaments will qualify for the Games.

The remaining four spots will be decided at the continental qualification events. The winner of the Asian qualifying round in Qatar will qualify for the Rio Games. Three other continental winners from the 2015 Pan American Games 2016 European Championship and 2016 African Championship will join the Asian Champions.

Like in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 before the handball tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will consist of twelve men and women teams each. Only the hosting nation Brazil are directly qualified with teams of both genders. The world champions France booked a direct ticket to Rio after their win in Qatar.

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.