Handball legend Staffan Olsson,
expects an exciting event in Qatar 2015
No other nation has been as successful as Sweden throughout the 75-year history of the World Men’s Handball Championship, the crown event of the International Handball Federation (IHF), which will be held in Qatar from 11 to 27 January of 2015.
The Scandinavians are topping the all-time medal table having won the gold medal four times while they have also snatched three silver and four bronze medals in 21 appearances at a final phase, but they have not reached a top-three spot since 2001, when they lost to France in extra time after a dramatic final in Paris.
The Swedes are eager to return to a podium finish at the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship in Qatar and they will seek the key to unlock the qualification door at the upcoming 2014 European Championship in Denmark.
Sweden typically sealed the ticket for the 2014 Euro finals few days ago at the final match of the qualification round by beating Netherlands 34-23, a result that put them on top of Group 5, ahead of Poland.
Handball’s great and current Swedish national team head coach Staffan Olsson feels his team has still a mountain to climb to join the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship team roster. On the other hand he looks optimistic on Qatar’s chances to succeed in organising an unforgettable event.
“Qatar is well-known worldwide for its efficiency in arranging major Championships in many sports and I am expecting an exciting event in 2015”, says Olsson who has been registered in Handball’s history books as a right back player with one of the fiercest left-handed shots.
49-year old Olsson, a two-time World and four-time European Champion describes as quite attractive the hospitality packages the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship’s Organising Committee is offering in association with Qatar Airways.
“It was nice seeing in Cologne, at the Qatar 2015 booths, those very tempting packages. It was an excellent idea and it will really boost hosts ambition for capacity crowd at the arenas. Qatar traditionally fields a strong team at the World Championships and I have heard that Handball is popular among sport fans in the country. This will be an asset as well for the organisers and a guarantee that the 2015 event will be a successful one.”
As far as Sweden’s chances to step up to the podium in 2015, Staffan Olsson, a four-time Olympian and owner of three Olympic silver medals prefers a step by step approach to this target:
“First of all we need to qualify and with so many quality teams in Europe it will not be easy. We have a young and promising team but we need to maintain a high standard of playing if we want to find ourselves among the qualifying teams for the 2015 World Championship in Doha. If we manage to qualify then our main target will be to reach the semi-finals in order to keep Sweden’s long tradition of success at World Championships alive.”
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