(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Defending champions Spain and Olympic champions France registered contrasting wins in the 24th Men's Handball World Championship to begin their Doha campaign on a promising note.
Yesterday at the Duhail Sports Hall, the Spaniards won the all-European Group A duel against a fighting Belarus 38-33.
In the last match of the day at the same venue, current European champions France overcame a spirited challenge from Czech Republic 30-27 in Group C to kick start their 'triple crown' campaign in a winning note.
The match between Spain and Belarus was a touch and go affair. The defending champions were stretched to the limit but it was the collected experience and some 'luck' which bailed them out of the tight situation.
Spanish coach Manuel Cadenas gave full credit to Belarus for a good fight.
"We were lucky to win the first match and start the championship on a winning note. It was a good game although we were not very good in defense. We were never behind Belarus yet we had certain problems, especially in defense.
Cadenas said they will be working to tighten up the loose ends in their game.
"Belarus were good in defense and they played a very good, fast paced match especially in the second half," added Cadenas.
Spanish central back Joan Canellas said the first match of the championship is always a difficult one and was delighted that they picked up full points.
"I am satisfied with the game. Clearly Belarus is improving in many areas. The game was very fast, especially in the second half. Belarus scored points on fast breaks so it was very dangerous but we have coped with it well," said Canellas. Yuri Shevtsov, coach of Belarus said a porous defense led the team down.
"Spain got a well deserved victory showing a great performance. We were not the favourites before the game. In attack we played very good yet our defense was not performing to the best of the players' abilities. Spain were playing a clever game against us."
Both teams showed utmost determination to dominate in the match and by the time the clock showed barely five minutes the score was already 4-4 with the match unfolding at almost breakneck speed.
However, the Spaniards started to demonstrate more quality and organisation in their game and efficient in their scoring prowess.
Going into the second half Spain had a cushion of a four goals but and needed to close the match but Belarus fought every inch.
The second half started exactly as the first one with a fast and furious exchange of goals by both teams. The Spanish were putting a lot of collective efforts into keeping a healthy five goals lead over Belarus though. It seemed every time the Belarus players were scoring the Spanish were scoring one back.
Yet the Belarus players were showing their 'never-say-die' attitude troubling the Spanish defence with their daring attacks, at times reducing Spain's lead to just a single point. At this point the nervousness of both teams was quite obvious. In the 16th minute Belarus suffered a setback as Vichaslau Shumak was sent off and latter on Siarhei Rutenka suffered the same fate which gave the Spaniards an undue advantage.
"We lost two important players by red cards, but still we showed a great performance against the world champions. We played on a high level until the last ten minutes. We can take confidence from this performance. Our goal is the quarter-final, so we need to take the points against other opponents," said Belarus left wing Ivan Brouka.
In the end Spain managed to hold on to its lead winning this extremely tough battle against resilient Belarus. Jorge Maqueda and Julen Aguinagalde top scored for the Spaniards with six goals apiece while Albert Rocas and Joan Canellas scored five apiece.
The Belarusians who gave the Spaniards a hard time in both defense and attack scored through the efforts of Aliaksandr Tsitou, with five goals.
Maxim Babichev, Barys Pukhouski and Diarhei Rutenka netted four.
Spain take on Brazil today in their next group match.
In another match of Group A, Slovenia coasted to an easy 36-23 win over Chile at the Al Bin Hamad Al Atiyya Hall in Al Sadd.
Rodrigo Salinas top scored for the South Americans on a day when eleven matches were played across the three venues.In Group B matches, Bosnia-Herzegovina defeated Iran 30-25 while Macedonia saw off the challenge of Tunisia 33-25 and Croatia edged Austria 32-30.
In Group C, Egypt got the better of Algeria 34-20, while Sweden eased past Iceland 24-16.
In Group D, Russia and Germany won their first group matches, the former defeating Saudi Arabia 21-17 and Germany getting the better of Poland 29-26 in a close match. In other match of the group Argentina and Denmark played out 24-24 draw.
In today's other Group A matches, Qatar seek to maintain their winning streak in the Chile match while Belarus will aim to pick up their first points against Slovenia.
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