It was laborious, but Grace Zaadi and her partners overcame the Serbs.

The French handball players, Olympic champions in Tokyo four months ago, qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2021 World Cup in Granollers (Spain), thanks to their 22-19 victory against Serbia, this early Saturday evening.

The players of Olivier Krumbholz will face Russia (7 points), under neutral flag, Monday evening (8:30 p.m.) in a match for the first place, in order to avoid Norway, the other big favorite of the competition and at the head of the group II.

The teammates of Coralie Lassource signed their fifth victory in this World Championship on Saturday and are guaranteed with 8 points to finish in one of the first two places in group I. They will not know their opponent in the quarterfinals until the end of the last meetings of the main round on Monday evening.

Whatever the result against Russia, the quarter-final will be raised for the French, since they will face either the Norwegians (3rd of the Tokyo Games), or the Swedes (4th in Tokyo), or the Dutch, title holders. global.

A double oh how much

Saturday against Serbia, the French were led in the first period (12-9), despite the stops of Laura Glauser (7). The French attack was in check on the shot, scoring no goals in the final 13 minutes before the break. In the second half, the Bleues quickly got back together (12-12) without succeeding for a long time to detach themselves, because of many missed face-to-face with the Serbian goalkeeper Jovana Risovic. But a penalty save from the incoming Cleopatra Darleux then a seven-meter throw obtained by Méline Nocandy transformed by Grâce Zaadi allowed them to make the gap (20-18, 58th) and manage the end of the match.

Olympic champions in Tokyo at the beginning of August, they are aiming for a double in the space of a little over four months that only the Danes (1996) and the Norwegians (2004 and 2012) managed to achieve (JO-Euro at the time ).

In the world championship, the French remained on elimination from the first round in Kumamoto (Japan) in 2019, their only failure in international competition since 2016, since they have climbed six podiums in the previous seven major championships.

Since the start of the competition in Granollers, north of Barcelona, ​​the French have clearly dominated strong opponents, such as Slovenia (29-18), Montenegro (24-19) or Poland (26-16).

  • Sport

  • Spain

  • Tokyo Olympics 2021

  • Women's World

  • Handball

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