Paris (AFP)
Solid in the first period, but feverish in the second, Nîmes won at the end of the suspense in Toulouse 29-28 and provisionally took over the lead of the French Handball Championship on Friday during the second day
Victorious at the opening of the promoted Limoges, the USAM, 3rd of the last exercise, was first impressive in the first act, carried by O'Brian Nyateu and Mohammad Sanad.
Five points ahead at the break (15-10) and even up to seven at the start of the second period.
Under the eyes of the former coach of the Blues and former player and coach of Toulouse, Claude Onesta, the Fenix appeared unrecognizable to him a week after his success in Chambéry (28-24).
But in the second period, Philippe Gardent's team offered another face, taking advantage of the mistakes made by the Nîmes to equalize three minutes from the end (26-26).
In a breathtaking final, it was finally the firm arm of Sanad, imperial on penalties and scorer of nine goals in this match, which allowed the Gardois to win 29-28.
The Toulousans believed to snatch the equalizer on a kung fu from Ayoub Abdi at the last second but the goal was refused for support in the zone.
In the other meetings of the evening, Chambéry won his first success by going to win at Tremblay (27-24) having almost always done the race in the lead.
In another undecided match, Saint-Raphaël drew 34-34 at Ivry, which leaves the last place in the standings to Tremblay.
Paris SG, narrowly winner of Aix on the first day (34-21) and twice beaten in the Champions League by the Germans from Flensburg (29-28) and the Belarusians from Brest (32-31), receives Cesson-Rennes Saturday (7 p.m.).
Nantes, also beaten in the European Cup by Barcelona at home (35-27), moves to Chartres on Sunday at the end of the day.
© 2020 AFP