Cairo (AFP)
Two favorites of the Men's Handball World Cup in Egypt, Croatia and Spain, conceded a draw (29-29 each) against Japan and Brazil for their entry into the running in the first round on Friday.
Seeing Brazil, who had beaten Serbia, Russia and Croatia in the 2019 edition, compete with European nations is no longer a surprise, while Japan was subscribed to the last places in the three previous Worlds.
With the sharing of points, he can aim higher for the future.
Croatia, finalist of the last Euro, will have to pull themselves together against Angola and then Qatar to keep their ambitions intact.
Spain, European champion, led at the break (16-13) against Brazil and had the opportunity to win from the penalty spot at the very end of the match, to no avail.
Germany, on the other hand, left no chance (43-14) to Uruguay, one of the three neophytes of this World Cup expanded from 24 to 32 teams with Cape Verde and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Congolese team, made up mostly of Franco-Congolese playing between the second and the fourth French division, has long stood up to Argentina (14-13 at the break) but ended up cracking (28-22).
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