Paris (AFP) – Germany and Qatar battled into the knock-out round of the World Handball Championships after respective pool-phase wins over Saudi Arabia (38-24) and Argentina (21-17) on Tuesday.
For European champions Germany it was a third win from three games and they even partially rested their star winger Uwe Gensheimer, who nevertheless racked up four goals in 30 minutes and oversaw a first half where the result was wrapped up with the score 21-13 at the break.
Germany coach Dagur Sigurdsson said: “It was difficult to keep up the concentration high in this game, but this was quite normal after we had a similar match against Chile.
“Now we have to step up and show a higher quality against Belarus tomorrow.”
Qatar stunned Argentina in a low-scoring affair and the Qataris can thank their goalkeeper Danijel Saric for his 14 saves.
It means neither regional rivals Bahrain nor the Argentines can catch them in the standings.
Tunisia could have secured a last-16 spot too but for a late collapse after they let slip a 28-23 lead in the last five minutes as Slovenia fought back to force a thrilling 28-28 draw.
That means Macedonia are also through to the next round without throwing a further ball, while Tunisia can now be overtaken by Iceland.
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