Frankis Carol Marzo was the team’s second-best scorer, while Rafael Capote added eight goals and two assists
14ymedio, Matanzas, Andy Lans, February 03, 2026 – Qatar’s handball team, with the Cubans Frankis Carol Marzo and Rafael Capote, finished second in the Asian Championship after losing their eighth consecutive final of the tournament with a score of 29-26 to Bahrain.
In this edition of the competition, held in the United Arab Emirates during the second half of January, Qatar beat Oman (27-15) and South Korea (32-31). Then, the Main Round gave them a pair of wins against Saudi Arabia (32-25) and the host country (25-20), but with a defeat against Bahrain itself (31-28). These results allowed them to enter the semi-final, where they won 27-26 against Kuwait.
Carol and Capote, both 38-year-old wing players, were able to bring Qatar into this edition of the competition. Carol Marzo was the team’s second-best scorer, with 29 goals, for a 57% ERA. He also recorded eight assists and three steals. His most outstanding match was in the Main Round against Bahrain, with 11 goals. In the case of Capote, with participation in five out of seven games played, he scored eight goals and two assists. However, it is worth noting that these Caribbean exponents have already come a long way in this national team.
Frankis Carol Marzo signed for Catarí handball in 2021, after a decade at Sporting de Portugal. He currently plays in the Kuwait league. With the selection of Qatar he records four titles in five participations in Asian Championships, in addition to presence in the Worlds of 2019, 2021 and 2025.
Rafael Capote escaped from the Cuban national team during the Pan American Games Rio de Janeiro 2007
For his part, Rafael Capote escaped from the Cuban national team during the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. He played professionally in Brazil, Italy and Spain until he moved to the Catarí league in 2013. There he was nationalized in 2014 to become a key part of that selection. With the Arab team he has participated in seven Asian Championships, between 2014 and 2026, of which he was champion six times; he attended six Worlds, with a final reached in 2015, and in some Olympic Games in 2016, again in Rio.
Years ago, the deliberate nationalizations of players by Qatar sowed controversy in public opinion of handball. The nation hosted the organization of the 2015 World Cup, and based on the naturalized players, set out to put together a representation full of stars. European elite ballers were usually lured into the Qatari league with exorbitant sums of money, and if they agreed to represent Qatar, they received extra bonuses for becoming nationalized. Over time, the International Federation tightened its eligibility rules for selections to regulate this phenomenon. Thanks to this, and the long-term investment in its internal infrastructure, today there are more Qataris by birth in its national pool.
For many, a selection of Qatar full of nationalized handball players was a serious alteration of the nature of competitions between countries, in which each seeks to bring the best of themselves. However, it is not uncommon for an athlete to come to feel genuinely grateful to and identify with a nation that can value him more than the land where he was born.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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