World Championship heats up in Doha

Egypt handball player (Right) in action in a past match. PHOTO / COURTESY

Doha: Egypt easily defeated the African champions, Algeria 34-20 in the battle for all African supremacy in the ongoing 24th Men's Handball World Championship at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena (Doha) on Friday evening.

Many expected a tight match between the long time continental rivals Egypt had the last laugh humbling the champions with the shock defeat.

Five minutes into the match, the teams had a 3-3 tie but Algeria lacked sharpness in their opponent's defense squandering a lot scoring chances.

The Pharaoh's capitalised on that mistake to punish Algeria opening the gap. Egypt continued to play with urgency literally terrorizing their opponents.

The 17-6 lead at half time was enough to earn Egypt a comfortable start in the championship. After the breather, the continental champions came in the match less motivated making simple mistakes that cost them.

Egypt seemed to be at home with over 2000 spectators who cheered them contributing to the team's good performance from the start.

Mohamed Bakir was not able to hide the joy after winning the match. "It was a great match, we have been rivals for a long time. We will use this win as stepping stone to other matches," said the player.

Egypt will play Czech Republic today while Algeria will play Iceland who lost their opening match against Sweden.

World defending champions, Spain, laboured to defeat Belarus 38-33 with Croatia sweating to register a slim but productive 32-30 win over Austria.

Slovenia earned Chile their first defeat of the competition by 36-23 while Russia humbled Saudi Arabia 27-17.