Al Wakrah emerged as Qatar Cup handball champions after a comprehensive 26-21 win over Al Gharafa in the final at the Al Duhail Sports Hall on Saturday.
Wakrah had a slender 12-11 lead at the end of first half, but were explosive in the second half as they ran away with the title. Wakrah had lost in the finals of 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 editions. It was the third loss in the Qatar Cup finals for Al Gharafa after defeats in 2016-2017 and 2018-2019 seasons.
Qatar Olympic Committee Second Vice-President Dr Thani bin Abdulrahman al-Kuwari crowned the champions and handed medals to both the teams.

Qatar draw In Group A for Olympic qualifiers
Meanwhile, Qatar were drawn along with Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the UAE, India and China in Group A for the Asian Men’s Handball Qualification for 2024 Olympic Games.
Qatar will host the event from October 18-28. The draw ceremony took place at the Qatar Handball Association headquarters yesterday. In Group B, Bahrain were placed with Iran, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Japan and Kazakhstan. The winner of the qualifiers will seal a spot for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while the runner-up will go into a play-off.
The draw ceremony was attended by President of the Qatar Handball Federation Ahmed al-Shaabi, Vice-President of the International Handball Federation and Treasurer of the Asian Handball Federation Bader Mohamed al-Theyab. This will be the third time in a row that Qatar will be hosting handball Olympic qualifiers. Mohamed Jaber al-Mulla, Secretary-General of the Qatar Handball Association, thanked the Asian federation for its confidence in granting Qatar rights to host the qualifiers.