Doha, August 01 (QNA) - Qatar Handball Association (QHA) announced Monday the national team's squad for the 28th Men's World Cup in Poland and Sweden from Jan. 11 to 29, 2023.
The national team's squad comprises 23 players as follows: Belal Masoud Mararheh (Al Ahli), Abdulrahman Tarek Al Abdullah, Mustafa Amir Heiba, Ahmed Nader Naseem, Ahmed Mohamed Maddadi, Rafael De Costa Kabote, Belal Lbenka, Alladine Nabil Belrashed, Ali Khaled Hamed (Al Duhail); Rasheed Yussef, Mohamed Mahmoud Abdelmajid, Ibrahim Shebl Ebeid (Al Sadd); Anis Abdulrazaq Zawawi (Al Arabi); Mahmoud Ahmed Zaki, Abdelhadi Medhat Rashad (Al Gharafa), Kamaledine Mallash, Amin Mowafak Zekkar, Edler and Ali Emad Al Diry (Al Rayyan); Yassine Sami Ebrahim and Ahmed Abdulhamid El Meniawy (Al Wakrah); Frankis Carol Marzo (Kuwait's Al Kuwait) The national team starts preparations on Aug. 14 under the leadership of Spanish coach Valero Rivera.
The Qatari national team was drawn in Group E along with Germany, Serbia and Algeria. Group A includes Spain, Montenegro, Chile and Iran, and group B consists of France, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Slovenia. Sweden, Brazil, Cape Verde and Uruguay were drawn for group C, and Iceland, Portugal, Hungary and South Korea will compete in group D. Group F includes Norway, Macedonia, Argentine and the Netherlands, while group G includes Egypt, Croatia, Morocco and the United States. Group H consists of Denmark, Belgium, Bahrain and Tunisia.
The Qatari national team qualified for the 2023 World Cup after leading group A at the group stage of the 20th Asian Cup held in January in Saudi Arabia, which saw the Qatari team being crowned champion for the fifth consecutive time after a 29/24 victory over Bahrain in the final.
The national team's participation will be the ninth in the World Cup after previous eight appearances in Portugal 2003, Tunisia 2005, Germany 2007, Spain 2013, Qatar 2015, France 2017, Germany&Denmark 2019 and Egypt 2021 with the silver medal in Qatar 2015 as the best achievement in world cup appearances. (QNA)