Muscat, June 12
The Oman national beach handball team will conclude its series of friendly matches against Thailand on Thursday with the sixth match in the series of friendly matches played on the sidelines of the current training camp in Bangkok, which will conclude on Friday, in preparation for participation in the 11th Men's and Women's Beach Handball World Cup, which will be held in the Chinese city of Pingtan from June 18 to 23.
On Wednesday, Oman beat Thailand in two matches. Oman won the first match 2-1, as the Thais took the first set 18-14. Oman came back in the second set to win it 16-12, and the two teams went to a penalty shoot-out that ended in favour of Oman 8-6.
In the second match, Oman repeated the win by the same margin. Oman claimed the first set at 14-13, while Thailand equalised by taking the second set 15-12. The match was decided by the golden goal, which came in favour of Oman.
The team delegation is scheduled to travel to Pingtan on Friday to acclimatise the players to the atmosphere of the tournament and the ground of the stadiums where the matches will be played, in addition to playing several friendly matches with the participating teams before the start of the competition.
TEAM OFFICIALS AND PLAYERS
The team delegation is headed by Dr Said bin Ahmed al Shahari, Chairman of the Oman Handball Association, accompanied by Said al Hosni, team manager, Talib al Balushi, team administrator, the technical staff led by coach Hamood al Hasni, Jaber bin al Balushi, assistant and physical trainer and goalkeeper coach, Hossam El Din Adli, physiotherapist, in addition to 10 players.
This qualification marks Oman's eighth appearance in the World Cup, having previously participated in 2004, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020. The team has also achieved numerous other accomplishments at the Asian, Arab and GCC levels. Most notably, they won the first Asian Championship hosted in Muscat in 2004. They also finished fourth in the Beach World Cup held in Taipei, China in 2009 and came second in the Asian Championship held in Hong Kong in 2013. Most recently, they finished second in the seventh Asian Championship in China in 2019.
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