But defending champions Spain were made to work very hard on the third day of the Championships to beat Brazil in their second match, eventually coming through 29-27.

The IOC President was welcomed by International Handball Federation counterpart, Hassan Moustafa, who has witnessed an eventful start to the 24th World Championships which opened on Thursday (January 15).

Thomas Bach, The International Olympic Committee President, is greeted upon arrival in Doha today by Dr Hassan Moustafa, President of the International Handball Federation ©QOCNewsTwitter

Before his team's second Group A match following their 28-23 defeat of Brazil in the opener, Qatar's Zarko Markovic insisted he was not underestimating his Pan-American opponents, adding: "We have to stay focused, regardless of the opponents."

Markovic certainly lived up to his word as he scored 11 of the Qatari goals, to the delight of a large crowd in the Lusail Multipurpose Arena, with Marco Antonio Oneto top scoring for Chile with five.

Spain, who carried a 15-14 lead into the second half, pulled away in the course of the final 30 minutes of action, but in the end they were grateful to two late saves from their keeper Jose Manuel Sierra after two goals in under a minute from Fabio Chiuffa and Joao Silva pulled the score back to 27-29 with just over two minutes remaining.

Spain's coach Manuel Cadenas, to be fair, had warned that no easy match lay ahead.

"We are aware of Brazil's strength, but we have just started our engines, so I hope that we can continue on this way," he said. 

"But we clearly need to improve our defence."

Slovenia, who had beaten Chile in their opening game, maintained their joint lead in Group A with Qatar and Spain thanks to a 34-29 win over Belarus.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, debutants in the World finals, lost narowly in Group B by 23-21 to Austria in the last of six matches today.

Action from the last match of the day, Austria's 23-21 win over Bosnia-Hercegovina ©Qatar2015