Cairo (AFP)

Danish handball players, reigning world (2017) and Olympic (2016) champions, had to resort to a penalty shootout to eliminate Egypt in the quarterfinals of the 2021 World Cup, Wednesday in Cairo, while the French had to play extra time to get rid of Hungary and go to the semi-finals.

Denmark and Egypt were tied (35-35) after 60 minutes of regulation play and two periods of two times five minutes of overtime.

In the 7-meter jets session, the Danes won 4-3 and advanced to the semi-finals.

To play in a fifth final of a World Championship, they will play against Spain, which won against Norway 31 to 26 on Wednesday evening, thanks to a first period clearly dominated by the Iberians, against the disabled Scandinavians. by the injury of Sander Sagosen, considered the best player in the world.

For 60 minutes in Cairo, the Egyptians held high against the Danes led by left-back Mikkel Hansen and goalkeeper Niklas Landin, two of the best players in the world.

The hosts led by a goal in the last minute of the game (28-27), before the Danes equalized by Magnus Landin, brother of Niklas, about thirty seconds from the buzzer (28-28).

Nikolaj Jacobsen's players dominated the first period by two times five minutes and thought they had won (34-33) when the bell rang.

But after watching the video, the referees felt that Mikkel Hansen had thrown the ball, instead of putting it on the ground, after a whistled refusal of play two seconds from time.

The PSG player then received a red card, the Egyptians transformed their throw of seven meters thanks to Mohammad Sanad (34-34) to leave for a second period of two times five minutes of overtime.

The hosts took the lead (35-34), but Magnus Landin equalized on a throw of 7 meters (35-35) at the end of the second overtime, to snatch the shootout.

And it was finally the Danes, who missed only one shot during the session, who won the ticket for the last four.

Lasse Svan scored the 7-meter throw that freed the world title holders, gone through all the emotions on Wednesday.

The suspense was also total for the French handball players, pushed into overtime by the Hungarians.

The French, six-fold world champions (1995, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017) started their quarter very badly, being six goals behind at the start of the first period (7-1, then 9-3).

They gradually returned to the score, and led by three goals with three minutes remaining.

But they missed their end of the game (30-30) and had to play a 10-minute short (twice five minutes) that they dominated without trembling (35-32).

To climb for the eighth time in their history in the final, the Blues will have to beat Sweden on Friday night in the semi-final in Cairo.

The Scandinavians did not do in detail against Qatar on Wednesday in the quarter, winning 35-23.

© 2021 AFP