(Group A) France dominate Qatar 35-20
9:55 a.m.
In a repeat of the 2015 World Championships, which France won by just three goals, the two-time defending gold medalists crushed the Qatari side in an exceptional display.
Qatar, a medal contender this Olympiad with a team of naturalized citizens, hoped to assert themselves as gold medal favorites, but the French depth and wide array of attacks were too much for Qatar to handle.
Things got off to a very testy start with both sides getting involved in scrappy play, drawing two minute suspensions and yellow cards.
With Thierry Omeyer’s impressive managing of the net and Nikola Karabtic’s class up front, France began to open things up in the second half. Led by Karabatic, France consistently outmuscled and outmanuevered the Qatari back line on the fast break.
Karabatic finised the game with five goals.
Qatar struggled to get past a deadlocked French defense that forced the Qataris to force ineffective shots from long distance. Qatar only managed seven shots from the six meter line, while making 30 attempts from behind nine meters.
Zarko Markovic, the premier scorer for Qatar, was held to just four goals.
Luc Abalo punished Qatar off the flanks, adding to the variety that the French squad has at its disposal. The right winger led his team in scoring today with seven goals.
France quickly pulled away from Qatar, opening up an 11 point lead midway through the second half and never looked back, exposing Qatar’s flaws on both sides of the court.