Algeria’s Sassi Boultif is one of only four players in the African team’s handball Worlds squad who play
professionally. Boultif plays for Dubai’s Nas Emirat. (EPA)
European teams have continued to dominate in major handball events while the African nations have been trying hard to get noticed on the world stage. It was the same script here in Doha at the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship.
Tunisia and Egypt showed a good run in the competition qualifying to the eighth-finals but their efforts were not sufficient as they were overpowered by Germany and defending champions Spain respectively, while African champions Algeria got a rude shock in the competition ending their campaign without a win.
Reached for a comment on the team’s poor performance, right back Khaled Chentout, who plays for Notteroy HB Norvege, found that inexperience contributed to the poor results compared to their opponents.
“Nothing really went wrong in the championship. We played our game but playing with the World’s best sides is not easy because they play higher leagues in other developed countries. The style of play is also different,” said Khaled
The Algerian team had only four players in the squad who play professionally — Sassi Boultif (Nasr Emirat, Dubai), Rabah Soudan (Cherbourg, France), El Hadi Biloum (Martigues HB, France) and Aski Mokran (US Dunkerrque, France).
African Handball Federation (CAHB) president Aremou Mansourou was still satisfied with the performance of the teams pointing to the fact that the Algerian team fielded a young squad.
“I expected more from Algeria but I am happy for them because they have a young team in the championship. Tunisia and Egypt have done a good job qualifying for the next round.”
But he also noted that the continent has to do more in order to improve the results in the big championships in the future.
“After the championship, we will organise a meeting with top African countries to share how we can move forward. In order to improve the sport we must have facilities. We also want to look into having our best players play in European leagues to improve their game. That is the only way we can do better in the international championships.”
