(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Olympic and European champions France and former champions Germany clinched their second consecutive victories at the 24th Men's Handball World Championship yesterday.
France overcame spirited Egypt 28-24 and legions of African team's fans, who kept the atmosphere at Duhail Sports Hall vibrant with non-stop cheering, chanting and flag waving, in their Group C match.
The atmosphere in the stands perfectly reflected the play where the Egyptians were constantly taking the lead in the first-half.
As half-time approached, France managed to move over their initial hiccups and the Egyptian sound power to gain the upper hand in the match.
Nikola Karabatic was leading Les Bleus with his prowess and example while Mohamed Amer was crucial for the Egyptian scoring.
The Frenchmen were in their elements by the end of the first period as the half finished 14-11 in their favour.
In the second half, there was no stopping them as they kept the North African side at bay with a four to five-goal gap consistently. The closest Egypt came was a three-goal difference in the 54th minute.
Despite lagging behind, Egypt were still very active and full of energy but they couldn't fully control the match, neither in defense nor attack. All their moves were dealt with effectively by the French.
Amer was the top-scorer for Egypt with five goals while Karabatic was the leading scorer for France with six goals.
At Lusail Multipurpose Hall, Germany defeated Russia 27-26 in a close Group D match.
"I am sure this was a very interesting match to watch. I would like to thank the many German supporters, as I actually think that they made the deciding difference in a very tight match," Germany coach Dagur Sigurdsson said.
"In the first half, our attack was not good enough, but we managed to improve that in the break, and for most of the second half we were in the driver's seat, until the Russians came back in the end," he said.
Both sides put their faith in 5-1 defences. Germany pushed line player Hendrik Pekeler forward, while Russia sent left wing Timur Dibirov forward.
Early on, the Russians had success in defence. Not only did Dibirov disturb the German attack a lot, he also stole the ball quite a few times and initiated effective counter-attacks.
At the other end of the court, Russia was better at playing around the German 5-1 defence. This resulted in several elegant attacking combinations and Russian emerged with a three-goal lead.
Russia continued to score without any big problems even after Germany moved back to a more traditional 6-0 formation, and went into the break with a 13-9 lead.
In the second half, Germany pushed Pekeler forward, this time with more success.
Within four odd minutes, they equalised the Russians at 14-14, and six minutes later, Stefan Kneer even gave them their first lead in the match at 18-17.
That lead soon bulged to three goals. Russia managed to reduce the deficit to a solitary goal with a minute to go but they couldn't get any further. Uwe Gensheimer scored nine goals for the winners, while Konstantin Igropulo scored six for Russia.
In the other Group C matches, Iceland registered a lop-sided 32-24 victory over African champions Algeria and Sweden defeated Czech Republic 36-22.
The Algerians were fired up to make up for their sub-par performance in their opener against Egypt on Friday. The Africans were the dominant in the first 30 minutes, but an experienced Iceland outfit overcame all the troubles in the second-half to earn their first two points.
Twice runners-up Denmark also bounced back from a disappointing 24-24 draw in the opening match against Argentina, as they handed Saudi Arabia a 38-18 loss, the biggest defeat margin so far in the championship. Poland also clinched its first victory yesterday by defeating Argentina 24-23 in another close finish of the day.
YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
Group C
Iceland bt Algeria 32-24
France bt Egypt 28-24
Sweden bt Czech Republic 36-22
Group D
Germany bt Russia 27-26
Poland bt Argentina 24-23
Denmark bt Saudi Arabia 38-18
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