DOHA, February 24, 2018 - Qatar boys lost to Poland in their second match of the ISF World Schools Handball Championship on Friday. The hosts went down 18-24 at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena. On the opening day of the event, Qatar had thrashed Morocco 39-12. On Friday, against a much stronger Poland side, Qatar fought hard but could fell short. Qatar still has matches to play against Austria and Denmark in Group A.
Yesterday, Austria scored an easy 23-12 win over Denmark. This was Austria first match in the tournament, while Denmark had beaten Poland on Thursday. Meanwhile, Croatia and France boys registered their second successive win.
Croatia had it easy against Bulgaria 31-12, while France outplayed Serbia 30-19.
In the girls section, Turkey beat Bulgaria 35-16, while Slovenia overcame Greece 23-12. Sweden had it easy against Poland 6-0, Romania downed 28-28 Israel 15. Croatia outplayed Georgia 26-9, Hungary 29 beat Czech Republic 16 and Denmark 45 thrashed Belgium 10.
The tournament for 16-18 year olds will run until next Wednesday. For the first time in 24 editions, the championship is taking place outside of Europe and the competition is set to be fierce with 19 girls and 18 boys teams from 21 countries across Africa, Asia, Pan America and Europe competing for glory.
Morocco are the sole representative from Africa, while Brazil will fly the flag for Pan America. Hosts Qatar will represent Asia. Europe is the dominant continent with 18 countries playing in the tournament, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and Turkey.
The preliminary round matches will be held till tomorrow and sees both boys and girls competitions split over four groups each – Group A, B, C and D.
Results
Boys: Austria 23 bt Denmark 12; France 30 bt Serbia 19; Croatia 31 bt Bulgaria 12; Poland 24 bt Qatar 18; Germany 31 bt Israel 20; Romania 30 bt Georgia 15
Girls: Turkey 35 bt Bulgaria 16; Sweden 6 bt Poland 0; Slovenia 23 bt Greece 12; Romania 28 bt Israel 15; Croatia 26 bt Georgia 9; Hungary 29 bt Czech Republic 16; Denmark 45 bt Belgium 10