As part of Qatar's desire to become a "global hub for mega sporting events", Doha is hosting the 2015
24th Men's Handball World Championship. For the next two weeks teams from all over the world will play the "game of fast" in order to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Qatar built three new state-of-the-art Handball stadiums to host the competition. It is the first time a world championship for Handball has all been held in one city. The stadiums have all been constructed in the last 4 years and they are beautiful! The
Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyan Arena holds 7700 spectators and can also be used for volleyball, gymnastics, badminton and ice hockey! The
Duhail Sports Hall is located just minutes from our home and can seat 5500 people. It is the site dedicated to handball only and is used by the local Qatar Handball Team and its administration. It also has 60 rooms for players accommodations, a swimming pool, and two training courts. The
Lusail Multipurpose Hall is the venue that we attended last night. It seats over 15,000 spectators. The stadium can also be used for volleyball and basketball. It has been called the most "spectator-friendly" venue in the world and is currently being explored as a facility to host entertainment events.
Last night we attended our first matches. A $5 ticket gains you entry to the stadium for a series of 4 matches. Our ticket included matches between Bosnia and Iran, Macedonia and Tunisia, Germany and Poland, Argentina and Denmark. Thankfully the $5 admission price also includes a beautiful 125 page glossy Event Programme with all the rules of handball, the team rosters, the events of the tournament and the sights of Doha.
It is very exciting game to watch, with similarities to basketball, and soccer. It has Free-throws, Corner-throws, Throw-ins, Red / Yellow cards, and dribbling. There are 6 players plus a goalie on each team and the play is very fast because the ball can only be held for 3 seconds at a time.
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