Montpellier (AFP)

At the end of a rather controlled qualifying tournament against leading opponents, the French handball players validated their ticket for the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday evening in Montpellier (July 23-August 8), where they will present themselves as ambitious reconquerors. .

Sunday, in a South of France Arena still and sadly empty of spectators due to the closed session imposed by the health situation, the Blues of Michaël Guigou confirmed the progress observed in recent weeks, since the Egyptian World Cup concluded at the end of January in 4th place .

In a meeting where the main thing was not to lose by more than seven goals, the French gave way against Portugal (29-28), a loss of no consequence to win the ticket for Tokyo, but which allows Lusitanians to qualify for the first time for the Olympics.

Certainly, we have not yet found the "Experts" who crushed everything in their path between 2008 and 2015, but the French will go to Tokyo with the ambition to regain the brilliance of the gold medal, which had them escaped in August 2016 in Rio in the Olympic final against Denmark.

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A dynamic under construction

"There is a collective experience that is being put in place as the matches go on," underlined captain Michaël Guigou after the victory over Croatia on Friday night (30-26).

The France team had come home bruised from Euro-2020, eliminated in the first round.

This fiasco cost Didier Dinart his job as coach, replaced by his deputy Guillaume Gille at the end of January 2020.

Deprived of gatherings and matches by the Covid-19 pandemic, this new look team was only able to meet in November.

The reconstruction was especially done in January at the World Cup in Egypt, with successful matches against Norway at the start of the competition, and Portugal in the main round before the quarter-finals.

In Montpellier, the Blues have further raised the level, with a very successful second period against Croatia, European vice-champion in 2020, Friday evening, both in defense and in attack, with Kentin Mahé placed at the half-back position. center.

And they managed to do in this match what they had not been able to achieve in their last two matches at the World Cup (half against Sweden, 3rd place against Spain), namely to reverse the course of a meeting. which was very unfavorable to them.

The French defense has regained an incredible density around the axis formed by Luka Karabatic and Ludovic Fabregas.

The successful overall performance by this defensive base in Montpellier is one of the reasons to hope for a new major Olympic campaign this summer in Tokyo, especially since goalkeepers Yann Genty and Vincent Gérard have responded, in perfect complementarity. .

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Rise in key moments

Between the 2021 World Cup and the Montpellier TQO, France has clearly placed itself back in the world hierarchy, among the few nations that count in the fight for international medals.

But to regain their place at the top of the podium in the Yoyogi Arena in Tokyo, which will host the two Olympic handball tournaments, the Blues will still have to raise their level, especially at key moments.

Between Euro-2018, World-2019 and World-2021, they cracked in the semifinals against Spain, Denmark, and more problematic against Sweden, each time with a class gap.

In the five-year Olympiad between Rio and Tokyo, Denmark, 2019 and 2021 world champion, and Spain, 2018 and 2020 European champion, have clearly taken a step ahead that we will have to succeed in fill this summer to offer a golden end to the Experts adventure.

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With Nikola Karabatic in Tokyo?

The reconstruction was done with a big absentee, since the star of the team Nikola Karabatic is currently recovering from a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee suffered in mid-October.

The time to come back from such an injury is estimated to be between six and eight months, which could lead to mid-June.

The center half is at the start of the re-athletic phase and resumed racing at the end of February, with work on jumps and downforce.

The race against time started at the end of October by the double Olympic champion will still take a little time, but he has set himself the goal of replaying a few matches at the end of the season with Paris SG.

A France team reinforced by its legendary center-half would become a much more dangerous team in the race for Olympic gold in Tokyo.

© 2021 AFP