They have been New Times indeed, but for Qatar's World Handball Championships, we are almost at Now Time - the opening match is on Thursday (January 15) between the hosts and Brazil in the spanking new Lusail Sports Arena.

Doha's team celebrate in Monaco two months ago after being awarded the 2019 IAAF World Championships ©IAAF



This futuristic, purpose-built Arena, with a capacity of 15,300, stands further up the coast from Doha, which will nevertheless provide two of its own venues for the coming Championships - the 7,700 capacity Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, and the 5,500 capacity Duhail Handball Sports Hall.

Qatar was announced as the first Gulf region host for the World Handball Championship after handball nations across the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa united behind their bid.

In a letter, Qatar's Emir and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani said: "Qatar has focused much of its energy to develop the handball game, starting from the base and reaching high levels of professionalism."

Those high levels are not in question, as Lars Christiansen, the legendary Danish player who scored more than 1,500 goals for his country in a career which ended three years ago, told www.qatarhandball2015.com.

"I am 100 percent sure that we will experience an unprecedented event, a World Championship like we never had seen before," said Christiansen, who will be working at the Championship as an expert commentator for Danish station TV2.

"I heard about the brand new arenas and everybody is full of praise for them. Definitely Qatar will set a milestone in terms of organisation. Handball will experience new heights in Doha.

"I hope that their 'no-empty-seat' policy will come true. I heard from hundreds of fans from the European core handball countries, who will travel to Doha to experience the event and to support their teams.

Lars Christiansen, pictured scoring for Denmark en route to their victory at the 2012 European Handball Championship, will be a TV commentator at the Qatar 2015 World Championship and he expects France, the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champions, to win their third title in the space of seven years ©Getty Images

"I am looking forward to those great arenas and to great duels of the best handball teams of the world. I expect that this event will be great promotion for handball in some parts of the world, where there is still room for improvement. Handball will get a boost thanks to Qatar 2015."

But as the time finally arrives for the New Start, those involved in organising the event look back on a year of awkward political difficulties which have left the make-up of competing nations in doubt almost to the last minute.

In July last year, Australia's place at the World Championship as the Oceania representatives was overturned by the IHF Council, which ruled: "There is currently no Continental Confederation in Oceania recognised by the International Handball Federation. Hence, the IHF Council decided to allocate the spot reserved for this continent to another National Federation on the principle of a wild card."

As a result Germany, the 2007 world champions, were awarded a place as the highest ranked non-qualifier, having been ranked fifth at the last World Championship in 2013.

If that was an example of sports politics, the next disruption to the Championship line-up involved the vexed politics of the region as, early in November, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates announced their withdrawal from the Championship.

Political tensions between Qatar and three of its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have become increasingly strained in recent years due to Qatar's perceived support of Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The three nations withdrew their Ambassadors from Qatar in March amid claims that Doha had not implemented an agreement among Gulf Arab countries not to interfere in each others' internal affairs.

By the time the IHF Council met on November 21, however, it was asked to consider the wish of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to abandon their withdrawals.

This change of direction occurred after crisis talks had been conducted in which Sheikh Tamim had found a compromise.

The three ambassadors returned to their posts, with a GCC statement hailing "the opening of a new page...especially in light of the sensitive circumstances the region is undergoing".

But there was no new page for the Bahrain and UAE handball teams, as the IHF Council ruled that the two original letters of withdrawal were final, and that no further correspondence would be accepted.

A fine of CHF100,000 (£65,000/$100,200/€83,000) was also imposed, with two more teams being brought into the Championship "on the basis of continental results" - Iceland and, ironically, Saudi Arabia.

There is also something of an anomaly in the presence within the 24 competing teams of Egypt, whose Muslim Brotherhood dominated Government was removed in July 2013, with the Brotherhood subsequently being declared a terrorist organisation.

In November, Egypt announced its withdrawal from the 2014 World Short Course Swimming Championships in Qatar the following month. But their team has remained in the World Handball Championship.

That is doubtless a big relief to Egypt's former international Hassan Moustafa, who has been President of the IHF since 2000, during which time he has had to answer allegations involving corruption and an instance of match-fixing in one of the Asian qualifiers for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games between Kuwait and Korea, which was eventually replayed after a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing.

Hassan Moustafa, the Egyptian who has been President of the International Handball Federation since 2000, has had a difficult route in to the imminent World Championship, withstanding allegations of corruption and seeing the line-up for Qatar affected by political boycotts ©Getty Images



Moustafa, who met with an IOC delegation at the IHF's Basel headquarters on December 12, told his visitors how the sport had changed fundamentally within recent years. He has described it as "a revolution", adding that the game has become faster, involving more goals and excitement.

He added: "Important changes have also occurred off the playing court. The handball family currently consists of 181 members. We are pleased to refer to the fact that the TV presence and the marketing possibilities have reached a whole new dimension."

On this front, it was announced last February that beIN Sports, a global network of sports channels jointly owned and operated by Qatar Sports Investments, would be the television rights holder for the 2015 and 2017 men's and women's World Handball Championships.

The firm, an affiliate of the Al Jazeera Media Network, will also be responsible for the television production of the four events.

Al Jazeera was announced as the global media rights partner for the Championship in December 2013 in a deal reportedly worth CHF100 million (£68 million/$110 million/€81 million).

"I hope we will reach all handball enthusiasts worldwide with this new partnership in order to further develop our sport," said Moustafa, who was joined at the governing body's headquarters in Basel to sign the agreement by IHF treasurer Sandi Sola and vice-president Miguel Roca Mas.

"I have some ideas and they have some ideas, and we have to see together how we can promote our sport.

"In four years we will evaluate where we are and which benefits we could take from this partnership."

In his message to the sport, Moustafa went on to say that men's and women's handball was now "firmly established" within the Olympic Games, adding: "All this should be reason enough to pause for a moment, and to reflect on the achievements with joy.

"Nevertheless, afterwards we immediately have to get back to work for our joint project. Despite all the successes there is still a long way to go. Therefore I ask all of us to continue our joint efforts to establish handball as what it is in our opinion: the most beautiful sport in the world.

"Handball is a diamond, which should be polished in order to become brilliant."

Soon, however, strategic judgements about the relative brightness of this sport will dim as attention focuses on what promises to be a tournament that will shine and fascinate all the way through to the final, scheduled for February 1 in the Lusail Sports Arena.

Christiansen is one of the most knowledgeable observers around when it comes to elite handball, and he is expecting another eventual triumph from the nation which, save for 2013, has won major titles every year since 2008. That includes the last two Olympic Games, European titles in 2010 and 2014, and world titles in 2009 and 2011.

France celebrate retaining their Olympic handball title at the London 2012 Games. Now they are targeting a third world title in seven years in Qatar ©Getty Images

"France is my top favourite," said Christiansen. "Their top star Nikola Karabatić is in the form of his life, and the way they defeated Denmark at the 2014 European Championship on Danish ground proved their strength and power.

"In general, I expect the four semi-finalists of the Euro to be part of the semi-finals again: France, Denmark, Spain and Croatia.

"I hope that the Danish team will make it to the final again. The expectations are huge, the anticipation the same. All Danes are handball-crazy, so they hope for the first ever gold medals at a World Championship.

"But the way is long and steep. Indeed it would be outstanding to have a final against France or Spain - as then the boys really have a chance to take revenge. Having Guðmundur Guðmundsson as a new coach and counting on the world's best goalkeeper could bring new energy for the team. And if he is in top form, our former World Handball Player Mikkel Hansen can play an equal role as Karabatić."

The host team, meanwhile, are approaching the Championship on a high having won the Asian Championship and Asian Games last year under the inspired direction of Valero Rivera López, who coached Spain to the world title two years ago, which helped earn him the award as IHF World Coach of the Year.

"This decision, to join the Qatar Handball Association, was the best in my life. If I had not agreed, it would have been the biggest mistake in my whole career," Rivera López said.

So far, the Qatar team has played 20 matches with Rivera López as a coach - test matches and official games - and only lost two encounters, including a close defeat against France.

Qatar's Rafael Capote gets in a shot during last October's Asian Games final in which his side beat hosts South Korea 24-21 ©Getty Images

Qatar's 24-21 Asian Games victory in Incheon was particularly impressive given that their opponents in the final were the host country, South Korea, who had not lost at home since the final of the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

Also in their qualifying group - along with Brazil, Slovenia, Belarus and Chile - are the team defending the title they won under Rivera López.

The first four teams of all four groups qualify for the eighth-finals - and it's Rivera López's goal to be among those. "This would mean the best result ever at World Championship for Qatar, and I am confident that we can manage it."

Rivera López's contract with the Qatar Handball Federation expires at the end of the World Championship, but there have already been discussions about extending it to 2016, with the major goal being qualification to the Olympic Games in Rio.

"This Qatar team is something very special," adds Christiansen. "I saw them at the Golden League event in January 2014 in Paris, when they beat Denmark. Qatar have one of the best coaches in the world and made some interesting 'signings'.

"I am sure that they will win some matches, but I don't expect them to make it to the semi-finals. Definitely they will proceed to the knock-out stage - and then we will see if the team manages to cause a 'fever' among their fans. They need to profit from their role as hosts."

In the meantime Karabatić has told Qatar 2015 he and his French colleagues have travelled with a gold medal in mind.

The 30-year-old, who won the IHF Super Globe with his new club FC Barcelona in Doha last year, said: "Qatar has deserved to organise this World Championship. They invest a lot in sport, in handball and in the infrastructure - and they even invest outside their country to develop handball and sport as the sponsor of the Paris St Germain team or by the sports channel beIN Sports, located in Paris too.

Nikola Karabatić, France's iconic player, pictured second left after the London Olympic victory, says it's his team's "clear goal" to win gold in Qatar ©Getty Images

"The arenas in Qatar are brilliant, the accommodation for teams is exceptional, the Qatari people show a great hospitality. So my biggest hope for the organisers is that they manage to have full arenas throughout the whole World Championship, that they can activate fans from all over the world - as then we will see a perfect tournament.

"It's our clear goal to win the gold medal again in Qatar, as it's been our target for years to be on top of all competitions. Between 2008 and 2012 we took nearly all available titles: at the Olympic Games, World Championship and European Championship.

"In January 2012, when we played a really weak European Championship in Serbia, missing the semi-finals, a lot of people said: 'The Golden Generation is dead, it's over for France.' Seven months later we were gold medallists at the London Olympic Games.

"In January 2013, when we lost the World Championship quarter-final in Spain, again they declared the French team for dead. So it was interesting so see all the reaction after we had played an extraordinary 2014 European Championship including beating host Denmark in an extraordinary final.

"So you see the tides turn quite fast in international handball. We will prepare intensely for Qatar 2015 and hope to go all the way."

Chances are the diamond that is handball will be shining with a new lustre come February.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play - the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.