- RFI
France edge past Switzerland at world handball championships in Egypt
France completed a clean sweep of the three match preliminary round at the world handball championships in Egypt with a narrow victory over Switzerland. Guillaume Gille’s men won 25-24 at the Dr Hassan Moustafa Indoor Sports Complex to advance to the main round as winners of Group E ahead of Norway and Switzerland.“Switzerland are a tough and stubborn team,” said Gille. “Experience brought us through. We have to work harder in the main round to make it through to the knockout stages.”The 27th world championships are the first to comprise 32 teams. After the preliminary round, the top three from the eight pools progress to the main round comprising four groups of six teams.Following five matches, the winner and runner-up from each of the main round groups will move into the quarter-final knockout games.PrideSwitzerland have not played at the world championships since 1995. They were admitted to the 2021 event at the last minute after the United States team was forced to withdraw after an outbreak of coronavirus in the squad.“The French team is very experienced and has been one of the top teams for the past 20 years with some of the best players in the world,” said Switzerland coach Michael Suter.“We performed well in defence and attack and can look forward to the coming matches in the main round."France, who are seeking a record-extending seventh world championships title, play the first game in the main round on Wednesday against Algeria who finished third in Group F. Switzerland continue their campaign against the Group F runners-up Iceland. Switzerland played very well today and showed a distinguished performance and exhausted us, but we managed to win in the end because of our huge experience. We went to the game with only knowing exactly what to do, win and make it to the final stages." He said The top three from the eight preliminary round groups will advance to the main round comprising four groups of six teams. The sides finishing last will compete for placings in the Presidents Cup Thanks to their 25-24 victory, France continues its harvest and can hope to see further in this World Championship. However, Les Bleus lost goalkeeper Wesley Pardin through injury in the first half. n i Gille's men came out of the game (25-24). A lesser evil for Les Bleus who will start the main round with 4 points against Algeria on Wednesday. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
- RFI
France take on Algeria to start second phase of world handball championships
France continue their quest for a record-extending seventh world handball title on Wednesday night with their first match in the main round against Algeria. Guillaume Gille’s men qualified for the second phase of the championships in Egypt as winners of Group E following victories over Norway, Austria and Switzerland.After taking on Algeria at the Dr Hassan Moustafa Indoor Sports complex, they will play Iceland and Portugal.The top two from each of the four main round pools will advance to the quarter-final knockout stages.LossHowever, Gille’s side suffered a blow after it was confirmed that goalkeeper Wesley Pardin will miss the rest of the tournament.The 31-year-old ruptured a ligament in his right knee during the 25-24 success over Switzerland on Monday. He will be replaced by Rémi Desbonnet.“I feel sad and frustrated for Wesley," said Gille. “He was in sparkling form and he had done some great things with us.”Defending champions Denmark finished off their opening round campaign on Tuesday night with a 31-20 destruction of Argentina in Group D."It's a normal result against the world champions," said Argentina coach Manolo Cadenas."We tried to defend as much as we could but their fast breaks were too hard for us to deal with.”Denmark progress to the main round as Group D winners. Argentina and Bahrain also advance to the second phase."This win will give us a huge confidence boost going into the next round,” said Denmark pivot Anders Zachariassen.
