The men’s handball competition at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad began with a victory for Olympic debutants Qatar, who defeated EHF EURO 2016 bronze medallists Croatia 30-23 to add their first two points to the table.
Croatia struggled immediately against Qatar’s 6-0 defence, and goalkeeper Danijel Saric in particular. The EHF EURO 2016 bronze medallists managed only one goal in the first 10 minutes – an outside jump shot from Luka Stepancic. After his goal in the fourth it took more than six minutes for Croatia to find the net again, until captain Marko Kopljar added the second just after the 10-minute mark. Qatar held a steady two-goal advantage as the match progressed, and when Ivan Stevanovic made a save in the 18th minute the score stayed at 6:4 in favour of the Asian champions.
After that however, Qatar began to create a more significant difference and when Kamil Aldin Malash took his team in front to a four-goal advantage at 8:4 just before the last 10 minutes of the half began, Croatia coach Zeljko Babic called his first time-out. His team were the first to score following the pause, but they were still chasing their opponents when Manuel Strlek closed the deficit to three with a goal from left wing (6:9 in the 23rd).
Croatia’s shooting woes were not over however, with Ivan Cupic following his right wing counterpart Zlatko Horvat in hitting the crossbar on a penalty. He managed to knock the rebound into the goal to put the score at 7:10 with just over six minutes left in the half, but Qatar would soon increase their advantage again – and this time it would stick.
Saric continued to cause serious problems for Croatia, making a series of difficult saves including on penalties and wide-angle wing shots, which meant he finished the half with a 50% save rate and contributed significantly to Qatar’s eight-goal advantage at the break.
When the match resumed that same distance persisted at 18:10 five minutes into the period, and though Croatia tried everything they could not come closer than the near 10-goal deficit. When line player Bassel Alrayes scored as the last 10 minutes began, and Goran Stojanovic made a save a minute later, the score stood at 25:18 to Qatar – and it was clear the match was decided. At the final buzzer the score board showed that same seven-goal advantage for Qatar, for whom it is the first ever win at an Olympic Games in their debut appearance at the event.
 “We expected a very hard game. We respect Croatia a lot – it is a good team with good players,” said Qatar’s Zarko Markovic following the match. “But I think that this morning we were better prepared. We have our 100% as always and we won.”

Rio 2016 may replace Chinese flags after furore over flaws
Rio de Janeiro: The Rio Olympic Committee is looking into replacing China’s flags being used at medal ceremonies after Chinese citizens complained about flaws, the committee said. Local Chinese media reported that the stars on the Chinese flags raised during the swimming and shooting medal ceremonies were incorrectly positioned, leading to complaints in China.
“All the flags used by the Rio 2016 committee are approved by the National Olympic Committees. We are working with the Chinese delegation to find a solution to this issue,” a spokeswoman for the committee told Reuters yesterday. The Chinese Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During the medal ceremonies, some Chinese internet users pointed out that the stars on the flags raised were parallel with each other. The correct Chinese flag features one large star, with four smaller stars in a semicircle tilted to point toward the larger one.
“A flag is a country’s symbol, we can’t tolerate any problems,” one online commentator said.