Fahaheel player makes a goal attempt against Al-Nasr.

ZAGREB, Jan 9: Abdulaziz Al-Zaabi, the administrator of the Kuwait handball team, confirmed the strong commitment of the players during their current camp in Croatia, which serves as preparation for the 29th World Cup finals. The tournament will be held from January 14 to February 2 across three countries: Croatia, Denmark, and Norway. Kuwait is placed in Group Three alongside Qatar, Austria, and France, with all the group matches taking place in Croatia. The team will begin its World Cup campaign on January 14 against Austria, followed by matches against France on January 16 and Qatar on January 18.

Al-Zaabi highlighted that the technical staff, led by Coach Saeed Hegazy, is focused on preparing the players mentally, physically, and technically for the World Cup, stressing the players' enthusiasm to represent Kuwaiti handball with pride.

The national team recently played two friendly matches. The squad is made up of 18 players: Abdullah Al-Khamis, Abdulaziz Al-Shammari, Haidar Dashti, Mohammed Amer, Fawaz Mubarak, Abdulaziz Salmeen, Fawaz Al-Shammari, Mohammed Al-Hindal, Ali Naseer, Saif Al-Adwani, Mishaal Al-Harbi, Saleh Al-Moussawi, Mohammed Al-Sanea, Abdulrahman Al-Shammari, Mohammed Ghadanfar, Hassan Safar, Abdulaziz Al-Dhafiri, and Mohammed Bouyabes.

In other handball news, the first round of the handball activation tournament was held at the Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Complex Hall. In the matches, Al-Sulaibikhat defeated Al-Tadamon 35-20, Al-Qurain narrowly won against Al-Yarmouk 26-25, and Al-Fahaheel triumphed over Al-Nasr 34-20.

By Khaled Al-Enezi

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff