Qatar's Ahmad Madadi (left) shoots against Slovenia's goalkeeper Matevz Skok during their 25th IHF Men's World Championship 2017 quarter final handball match played at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France on Tuesday. Slovenia won 32-30.
Experienced Qatari player Bertrand Roine rued his team's ‘mistakes’ after 'Al Anabi' were knocked out of the IHF Men’s Handball World Championship following their loss to Slovenia in the quarter-finals on Tuesday night in Paris.
The Valeiro Riveira-coached side, which ended as surprise runners-up two year ago, looked on track in hunt for their maiden title after they stunned European champions Germany 21-20 in a nail-biting battle in the eighth final on Monday.
Qatar were engaged in another cliffhanger in their quarter-final, but this time Slovenia came up as beneficiaries with a 32-30 win over the Asian champions.
Roine, the veteran Qatari left-back, felt his side had a good chance of advancing into the semi-finals but mistakes cost them in the game.
“The big problem was our first half, we took too much goals, especially on fast breaks and quick launches,” the 35-year-old said yesterday.
“We had problems with our substitutions, the line-player and the wingers were sometimes left alone. Does it come from a lack of concentration? I don’t know… We made a lot of little mistakes and at the end, we lost by two goals, it’s really frustrating,” he added.
Before going down, Qatar gave Slovenia a scare with the a fightback after the Europeans dominated the first three quarters of the game.
They were leading 9-5 after 11 minutes and entered the last 15 minutes with a nine-goal advantage.
From then on, the 2015 runner-up staged a comeback but it was too late from them as they fell short of two goals.
Slovenia’s Darko Cingesar was delighted with the victory that gave his side just their second entry in the semi-finals.
“It’s a great feeling, I can’t believe that we are in the semi final,” said a jubilant Cingesar.
“In the first half, our fast breaks made the difference, we were very fast and we manage to score a lot of goals. In the second-half, we were better in the defence, and we made a big gap, which allowed us to win at the end. It is my first semi-final in any big competition, so I’m really happy and I can’t wait the next match (semi-final) against France,” he added.
However, Qatar have reasons to smile as they achieved their target of reaching the quarter-finals, set by coach Rivera before the 24-team competition kicked off in the French capital.
Their win over Germany remained the highlight of their campaign in France which also include impressive victories over Bahrain and Argentina in the group stage.
