Rafael Capote of Qatar in action against Egypt in the 2017 Men's World Handball Championship Group D match at AccorHotels Arena in Paris, on Friday.
After a shock defeat to Egypt in their opening game of the World Handball Championship, Qatar are looking to bounce back in the event when they will meet Bahrain in Paris today.
The Al Anabi who finished as surprise runners up in the last edition endured a shaky start and went down fighting against the Egyptians 20-22 in their first game on Friday.
Qatar’s player Bertrand Roine was not convinced with his team's show in the opening match saying the side needs to pull their socks up in remaining matches of the group.
“We didn’t play to the best of our abilities,” Roine said while commenting on his team’s defeat to Egypt.
“We always got the ball when standing. We knew that we were going to play a very aggressive team, with a high defensive line, so we had to take some distance and create some depth. But we failed.”
“The key would have been to run more without the ball and to win more duels,” added the seasoned player.
The match against Bahrain is of absolute importance to Qatar as a win in it would boost their confidence for their relatively tougher group matches coming ahead.
After the Bahrain game, the Al Anabi will take on Argentina on January 17. The 2015 finalists will then face Sweden and Denmark on January 18 and 20 respectively in their final group games.
The Asian giants initial target is to clear the preliminary stage by finishing among top four teams in the group with coach Valero Rivera hopes his team to reach at least the quarter-finals and the Spaniard said: “ We will fight for it.”
Meanwhile, defending champions France claimed second consecutive victory when they thrashed Japan 31-19 yesterday.
Ludovic Fabregas was star of the day for the hosts scoring seven goals to take Man-of-the-Match award.
France, though suffered a setback during the victory with their star player Luka Karabatic enduring an injury. Karabatic was scheduled to undergo scan on his right foot.
France are targeting their sixth world crown. They were the winners in 1995, 2001, 2009, 2011 and 2015 editions.
