Qatar go down fighting to Austria

Qatar boys’ team went down battling to Austria 17-20 at the ISF WorldSchools Handball Championships at the Ali Bin Hamed Al Attiyah Arenayesterday. It was the hosts’ second successive defeat after they werebeaten by Poland in a Group ‘A’ clash on Friday. They now have just onewin from three matches, having won against Morocco on the opening day ofthe championship. Austria had a fruitful day yesterday, as they had beaten Poland earlierin the day 29-21. And they showed no signs of fatigue against Qatar toall but confirm their spot in the knockout stages.Qatar team manager Ali Meddi now has an uphill task with just Denmarkmatch left for the hosts to play, a match in which they need a win tokeep any hopes of survival alive. Poland redeemed their chances in thegroup after an earlier defeat to Austria as they thrashed Morocco 29-17.The North Africans also lost their final match against Poland in whatconfirmed their exit from the competition.The tournament for 16-18 year olds (born in 2000, 2001 and 2002) willrun until next Wednesday (28 February). For the first time in 24editions, the championship is taking place outside of Europe and thecompetition is set to be fierce with 19 girls and 18 boys teams from 21countries across Africa, Asia, Pan America and Europe competing forglory.Meanwhile, defending boys’ champion Turkey lost to Germany, while CzechRepublic beat Georgia 36-12. Israel managed to get a win in thecompetition as they pipped Czech Republic 27-23. In the girls section,France scored a comprehensive 35-6 victory over Georgia in a Group Dclash at Aspire Dome. Denmark beat Croatia 30-18. Serbia fell to champions Hungary 35-15 in alargely one-sided match. The German girls were also in action andcruised past Israel 39-10, while Romania thrashed Turkey 35-18.