Muscat: Oman beat Bahrain 2-1 in the ongoing 4th Asian Men’s Beach Handball Championship in Hong Kong yesterday to qualify for the 2014 World Cup Beach Handball Championship to be held in Morocco. This is the fourth time that Oman has qualified for the World Cup Beach Handball Championship; they hosted the event last summer and finished eighth in the 12-nation tournament. The Sultanate had finished ninth in the 2010 edition in Turkey. Oman also participated in the inaugural edition of the World Cup in Egypt in 2004.
Winning four straight games in the qualifiers, the Hamoud Al Hasani-coached side has qualified for the World Cup, along with Qatar, against whom they will play on Thursday for the decider. Oman beat Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong before thumping Bahrain to qualify for the prestigious stage.
Speaking to Times Sport yesterday, a delighted Sheikh Sultan Al Hosni, chairman of the Oman Handball Association, said the team deserved to qualify for the World Cup Beach Handball Championship. “Our boys have been simply spectacular during this tournament. I have no words to express my happiness. They played their hearts out at the championship, and they fully deserve to get a place in the World Cup,” said Sultan, who is currently with the national team in Hong Kong.
According to Sultan, Oman’s two-week preparatory camp in Thailand ahead of the tournament helped the team to win all four rounds to qualify. “When we planned for this tournament, our aim was to qualify for the World Cup. It was quite difficult to plan because the teams in our group looked almost too tough to beat in Hong Kong. So, we thought it was necessary to utilise a good external camp, somewhere close to Hong Kong. Thailand was our best choice, and our boys played a few friendly games there before flying to Hong Kong. I think that really helped them in this tournament,” Sultan explained.
The soft-spoken handball chief also heaped praise on the Omani coach. “Hamoud is a brilliant coach. He helped the team to qualify for the World Cup in Muscat. With this achievement, he has once again proven his ability, and we hope he will guide the team to capture the title,” Sultan added.
Meanwhile, Khalid Al Zubair, chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee, has congratulated the team, following their qualification for the World Cup Handball Championship. In a statement to the media yesterday, Zubair praised the team for their “historic” achievement. “Qualifying for the [championship] is truly a historic achievement. I would like to congratulate the team for this splendid achievement. Qualifying for the World Cup for the fourth time shows how strong we are in this sport. We hope the team will continue to make us proud,” he stated. Oman will now play their fifth and final game against Qatar on May 16.