Germany celebrated its first victory at the 26th Handball World Cup. Against the Koran team, which competed with athletes from North and South Korea, won the DHB selection in Berlin 30:19 (17:10). Uwe Gensheimer was the best German scorer with seven goals.
In Berlin, the team of coach Christian Prokop had no problems with the chance outsider. That had not been expected in advance. Despite the many goals also showed Germany keeper Andreas Wolff a strong performance. Already at halftime he had held 14 balls.
The 14,800 fans saw in the initial phase, a strange scene: After a duel Steffen Fäth got the hand of a Korean player in the face - but from which? The referees first showed Jang Donghyun the red card. In the opinion of the video images, however, Kim Dongmyung was fined.
The World Cup, which ends with the final on January 27, had previously been opened with a show. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed all visitors to the final round, which takes place in Germany and Denmark. World Cup ambassadors Heiner Brand, Henning Fritz, Dominik Klein, Pascal Hens and Stefan Kretzschmar wore the World Cup trophy into the arena.
For the German team, the World Cup on next Saturday (18.15 clock, live ticker SPIEGEL ONLINE, TV: ZDF) on. In Group A, the DHB selection also hits title favorite France, Russia and Serbia.