Cairo (AFP)
Spain, European champion, joined the main round of the Handball World Cup in Egypt on Tuesday, eliminating Tunisia 36-30, and will have Hungary as main rivals, which beat Germany with a breath (29- 28), and Poland which sickened Brazil (33-23).
The first round of the Egyptian World Cup, the first to 32 teams instead of 24 previously, ended Tuesday evening with the elimination of 3 African teams.
In addition to Cape Verde, which withdrew from the competition on Monday due to an insufficient number of players after a wave of Covid-19 contaminations.
Tunisia, which on Sunday conceded the draw against Brazil (32-32) when it had two goals ahead of 36 seconds from the end, did not achieve a feat against Spain.
Angola erased a six-goal delay against Japan (18-12) before losing by the smallest margin (30-29).
The Democratic Republic of the Congo tied with Bahrain for a period (14-13) before giving in to length (34-27).
Bahrain, Japan, Spain, Poland and Brazil are the last qualified for the main round which consists of 4 pools of 6 of which the 2 best will reach the quarter-finals.
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Group I: Hungary on pole
In the pool formed by the merger of groups A and B, Hungary started with the maximum number of points (4) after their success snatched against Germany.
Spain is in a good position (3) and Poland (2) like Germany (2) are still in the race.
The Mannschaft is deprived of several executives who have chosen not to come in the context of the health crisis.
By bowing in large widths against Poland, Brazil (1) has already mortgaged its chances.
Uruguay (0), a qualified novice without having won a match on the field, is promised a tough apprenticeship.
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Group II: Denmark in the lead
Denmark, who undoubtedly had the easiest draw of all the favorites with Pool D, completed a smooth first round against Argentina (31-20) and will start the second phase with plenty of points.
A three-way match awaits him with Croatia (3) and Qatar (2), opposed Tuesday in a crucial shock in the race to the races.
The Croats, surprised by Japan for their entry into the competition, set the record straight by taking the upper hand (26-24) on the 2015 vice-world champion.
Argentina (2), Japan (1) and Bahrain (0) will have nothing more to lose.
© 2021 AFP