A Qatar player (in maroon) tries to score past Belarus players (in white) during their IHF Men’s Junior World Championship Eighth-Finals match in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Tuesday.
Qatar’s run in the 2015 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship came to an end after they found themselves a goal short in their Eighth-Finals match against Belarus in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Tuesday. Belarus won 36-35.
It was a close match right from the start, with the teams scoring one for one. Qatar pushed ahead in the 12th minute taking a three-goal lead (9-6).
Belarus finally settled in, and a rocket into the right corner from Hleb Harbuz put them one goal behind in the 25th minute (15-14). The European side struggled to control players like Ameen Zakkar in defence, and Qatar took a one-goal lead into the break.
The second half continued with Belarus chasing Qatar until a fast break goal from Harbuz levelled the score in the 40th minute (20-20). The European side took the lead in the 43rd minute (21-22) but it was not long before Qatar reclaimed it (25-24, 49th minute).
Qatar keeper Berzad Demirovic came on in the second period after brief appearances in the first half, and demonstrated yet again that Qatar have two equally-exceptional players in that position.
Again, Belarus reclaimed the lead with a fast break in the 52nd minute, followed by a back shot from Vadim Gayduchenko in the next attack (26-28). But Qatar equalised in the 55th thanks to right wing Abdulaziz Helali (28-28), and a tense few minutes followed as the clock ticked down until the whistle blew.
The match continued in extra time with Belarus first on the board when the third period began, but the teams were even once again at the break. The final five minutes had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Both teams scored inside the last minute (34-34) before Harbuz intercepted and scored an outside ground shot to win the match for Belarus in the last seconds of the game.
Qatar will take on Brazil in the 9/10 placement match after the hosts were knocked out 31-34 by Denmark in front of a packed stadium on Tuesday.
In the other matches of the day, Spain booked the first Quarter-Finals spot with a win over Russia and Germany wrapped up the evening with a nine-goal win against Argentina.
Spain began the match stronger, but the Russian Federation soon made up for their opening minutes, drawing even before a penalty save from subbed-in goalkeeper Dmitry Kholmov kept the score level at 4-4 in the 13th minute. As the match neared the 20th minute, Russia edged ahead by two goals (8-6).
Russia went into the break with a two-goal advantage (14-12).
After temporarily allowing Russia to create a three-goal advantage when the second half began, Spain came back to level the score once more (16:16, 35th minute), and then held on to the lead right till the end.
The scoreboard in the last game of the day did not tick till the seventh minute when German right wing Max Emanuel got the ball past Argentina keeper Tomas Villarroel on a fast break.
As the half progressed, Argentina ran into trouble when two two-minute suspensions were issued and they had to play with only four court players. Germany quickly increased their lead to two goals by midway through the half (6-4). Germany goalkeeper Christopher Rudeck caused Argentina’s shooters a headache as his side retained their two-goal lead (8:6, 25th minute).
The second half saw Germany continue to lead, with strong defence and excellent keeping from Rudeck. Argentina left wing Francisco Lombardi intercepted the ball and scored a solo fast break that took the score to 19:15 with 15 minutes left. But Germany was in no mood to relinquish their advantage and finished with a nine-goal advantage at 27-18. (IHF)
