Mikkel Hansen found the target with seconds remaining to help Denmark edge Qatar 26-25 in a thrilling Group A handball match at the Olympic Games yesterday.
With precious little to choose between the two teams, it was anybody’s game until the last moment, but it was Denmark who held their nerve to clinch their third win in four matches to take their points tally to six.
Qatar, on the other hand have only three points from four matches, having lost two, won one and drawn one and will need to beat Argentina in their last group match in order to secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
Qatar held the early advantage, albeit by not more than two points at any given moment but Denmark displayed remarkable grit and determination to tie14-14 at half-time.
Late in the second half, Qatar trailed 20-23, but caught up and even went ahead 25-24 thanks to a goal from Rafael Capote, before Mensah Larsen equalised with 51 seconds remaining to hand Denmark the advantage.
And sure enough that proved to be a key moment as a great assist by Rene Toft found Hansen and he drilled the ball into the middle of the Qatari goal much to the joy of the Danes.
Meanwhile Croatia stunned world champs France 29-28 thanks to a last second penalty save by goalkeeper Ivan Pesic. Croatia started stronger with two goals scored before France added two of their own to equalise, but the EHF EURO 2016 bronze medallists showed they were ready to play when they allowed the level score line to exist only temporarily, opening up the two-goal advantage with a counter attack goal from Manuel Strlek just after the five-minute mark (4:2).
But then it was France’s turn to score two consecutive goals, and they levelled with two goals in the seventh courtesy of Mathieu Grebille then Michael Guigou. Neither side could find the goal after that, with great defence and goalkeeping at both ends of the court that meant the score remained the same at the 10-minute mark when Croatia coach Zeljko Babic requested the first time-out of the game.
Marko Kopljar was the next on the board, breaking the scoring drought of three minutes to put Croatia in front at 5:4, but after that Guigou scored two more goals – to tally four by the time the clock showed 15 minutes – and earned France their first lead of the game at 6:5.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Abdelalelah Haroun was the lone bright spot for the Qatari contingent yesterday as he  qualified for the men’s 400 metres semi-final.
Haroun finished his heat in second place with a time of 45.76 seconds, behind US athlete LaShawn Merritt, who took first place in 45.28s, while Botswana’s Isaac Makwala came third place in 45.91seconds.
Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, the Asian 100m champion, however failed to make it to the next round, finishing fifth in his heat.
Meanwhile, Qatari weightlifter Faris Ibrahim finished 8th in the men’s 85kg weightlifting after lifting 158 kilograms in snatch and 203 in clean and jerk,  giving him a total of 361 kilograms Iran’s Kianoush Rostami recorded 396 kilograms to give Iran their first gold medal.  
The silver went to China’s Tian Tao with 395 kilograms while the bronze was claimed by Romania’s Gabriel Sincraian with a lift of 390 kilograms.
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah finished 31st, only ahead of countryman Rashid Hamad, who came last, in the men’s skeet shooting event at the Rio Olympics yesterday.
Al-Attiyah, who boasts an impressive CV of motorsport feats including 11 Middle East Rally Championships and two Dakar Rally titles, had won bronze medal at the London 2012 Games. In Rio, al-Attiyah was not at his best as he scored 109 points, with Hamad securing just 109 points.  
The gold medal went to Italy’s Gabriele Rossetti, who beat Marcus Svensson of Sweden 16-15 in the final. Kuwait’s Abdullah al-Rashidi, who is  competing as an Independent Olympic Athlete, took bronze.