All dilemmas in the group stage of the 16th European Handball Championship have been resolved - France defeated Hungary 35:32 and took Germany to the semifinals, which was defeated by Croatia 1:30 at the close of Group 24, in a duel for prestige.
Dominik Kuzmanović shone in that match, breaking the record of this Euro with as many as 22 saves!
The victory of the "experts" was also enjoyed by Austria, which is now one step away from qualifying for the Olympic Games.
For that, it is necessary for Egypt to defeat Tunisia tomorrow in the semi-finals of the African Championship, and then to defend the title on Saturday.
This would free up a place for Austria in the qualifiers, because Slovenia would then enter them as the tenth-placed team from the World Championship, and not as a team that will play the match for 5th place at the EHF Euro.
France's victories were also enjoyed by Croatia and Portugal, who are now definitely in the Olympic qualifications.
"Soared" was Iceland, which defeated Austria 26:24, but it turned out to be insufficient.
"Fishermen" needed a five-goal victory in order to finish second in the round with Hungary and Austria, or fourth overall in the group.
This is how he finished in 5th place, behind Hungarians and Austrians...
The most deserving of this is goalkeeper Christopher Mestl, who saved as many as 20 Icelanders' shots and influenced Aleš Pajović's team to anxiously await the match between France and Hungary, as well as the end of the African Championship...
The first favor was done by Guillaume Žil's elected officials, who were in charge practically all the time. The most effective were left-handed aces Nedim Remili with seven and Dika Mem with six goals, while the Hungarians were led by pivots Bence Banhidi and Mikloš Rošta with five each.
A place at the Olympic Games is already held by France as the host, Denmark as the world champion, Japan as the winner of the qualifying tournament in Asia, and Argentina as the champion of the Pan American Games.
On Saturday, the African champion will take the fifth visa to Paris, and Europe will be represented by Sweden or Germany, depending on who will take a better place at the EHF Euro.
Three qualifying tournaments, where the last six participants will be sought, will be played from April 14 to 17. When the African and European championships are over, it will be known who will participate in which...
Bonus video:
