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Germany lose again

Andre LeslieJanuary 30, 2015

After missing out on a chance for the final, Germany's handballers have lost again at the world championships in Qatar. The latest defeat means the team has to win on Saturday to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.

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Patrick Groetzki shows his frustration at a missed opportunity
Image: Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

Germany's handball team went down 28-23 to Croatia on Friday, in a game that saw it slip one step closer to missing out on next year's Olympics. The performance was one of its worst showings at the tournament in Qatar so far.

Germany's top scorers against Croatia were Jens Schöngarth and Uwe Gensheimer, who both scored six goals each.

"It is very annoying, we just didn't perform as we could," Schöngarth said. "We just made way too many mistakes."

"Croatia was better, no question," said German team coach Dagur Sigurdsson."We made a lot of mistakes, we should have played better."

"It is also a question of mental approach. We didn't make sure of things in our minds, or on the court. Now, we have to put in maximum effort."

The team will now play Slovenia at 13:30 UTC on Saturday after it lost 36-33 to Denmark on Friday evening.

A win in that game will see the 2007 World Champions finish seventh overall and squeeze into one of three qualifying tournaments for the games in Rio de Janeiro.

In the first semi-final on Friday, hosts Qatar continued their impressive form to edge Poland 31-29 and reach a first ever World Handball Championships final.

Qatar's Bosnian-born goalkeeper Danijel Saric, one of eight foreign players granted Qatari citizenship in the build-up to the tournament, was a key figure in a match played before a partisan crowd of 15,000 in Doha.

The hosts will now face France on Sunday after it beat the holders Spain 26-22 in Friday's other semi.

al/ pwh (dpa, SID, Reuters)