Egyptian handball story in Algeria

CAIRO –29 July 2017: The Egyptian U-20 handball team won the President’s Cup Final against Brazil 38-27 on Thursday to achieve 17th place in the U-20 IHF World Cup held in Algeria.

President’s Cup Champion is an honorary nickname for the team achieving the 17th place in the Handball World Cup.

Egypt’s run in the tournament wasn’t as expected, as it had finished fourth in the previous edition in Brazil, so they entered the competition with high expectations.

Egypt played in Group B alongside France, Slovenia, Denmark, Qatar and Sweden.

Egypt lost to France in the opening match 36-30, then another loss to Denmark 26-20. The Egyptian team failed to improve in the next two matches, as they lost to Slovenia and Sweden before achieving their only win in the group against Qatar to end the group stage in 5th place, failing to qualify to round of 16.

Egypt played two matches to decide the places from 17 to 20. Egypt won over South Korea 35-34 and won over Brazil in the President’s Cup final.

Wael Abdel Ati, Egyptian coach, spoke to the competition’s website after the last game about Egypt’s participation. “I have players who perform strongly; I really respect them, but unfortunately, we should have played more games before the competition to gain more experience,” he said.

Abdel Ati added, “There is no great difference between us and biggest teams in the competition; we aren’t too far away from them; only their experience made the real difference.”

Algeria hosts U-20 Handball World Cup from July 18-30 for the first time.