QATAR’S HANDBALL TEAM IS SHAMELESS BID TO BUY MEDALS

aBDULrazzaq MUraD must be very good at handball. he’s a qatari player, who starts for the qatari team. and he’s alone in that. Of the seven who opened up qatar’s campaign with a 30-23 win over Croatia yesterday, there were ‘qataris’ from Montenegro, Egypt, France, Cuba, Bosnia and Croatia. In reserve were nationals from Serbia, Montenegro, Spain, two Syrians — and just two more qataris. the coach is Spanish, too. the International handball Federation are another of those rogue organisations who like to keep nationality out of national sport and qatar are taking advantage of rules that state a player who has not been picked by his country for three years can join another. Danijel Saric, the goalkeeper, is now on his fourth country: Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and herzegovina and now qatar. the IhF say they have tightened up regulations as a result and players can only switch once — and only to a country where the player has parents or has lived for two years. It is too late, however, to stop the abomination that is qatari handball. this all-star team, including former world champions such as Bertrand roine of France, have already won silver at a home World Championships in 2015, and are tipped for a medal in rio. Players can earn annual salaries of £850,000 in a sport where some other nationalities have to supplement wages with day jobs. It is a reminder of the days when qatar bought Bulgarian weightlifters for one million dollars. qatar’s national football team has an international feel, too — the last squad included players born in Sudan, algeria, Ghana, Saudi arabia, Cape Verde, Guinea, France, Senegal, Bahrain, Brazil and Uruguay. It is the opposite of international sport, combining the financial imperatives of the club game, and the impermanence, too. how can this be true to the Olympic spirit? It is a tawdry attempt to buy medals, as if that represents anything bar the worst of qatar’s influence on sport.