The Egyptian handball team, fourth in the last edition in Tokyo, started its journey in the Paris Olympics with a deserved victory over its Hungarian counterpart 35-32, today, Saturday, in the first round of the second group competitions.
Egypt, fourth in the world in 2001 in France, started the match well and scored two goals and widened the gap to 8 goals in one period of the first half (15-7 and 16-8), but Hungary came back strongly in the last four minutes and reduced the gap to four goals (15-19) at the end.
Hungary continued its momentum at the beginning of the second half and managed to tie twice (23-23 and 24-24) before Egypt regained its balance and restored the gap to four points (32-28) amid great Hungarian insistence in the final minutes as it reduced the gap to one goal (32-33) two minutes before, but the Pharaohs had the last word with a difference of 3 goals (35-32).
The Pharaohs' lineup, the nine-time African champions, included Yehia Omar and Ahmed Adel, who each scored nine goals, while Yehia El-Deraa added six goals and Mohamed Sand five goals.
Egypt took a step towards the next round with a win over Hungary, as the group includes the strongest teams in the world, especially France, the three-time title holder, the last of which was in the last edition in Tokyo, which suffered a humiliating defeat against the runner-up and 2016 champion in Rio de Janeiro, Denmark, with a score of 29-37.
France's right-back Dika Mem said that the loss "painful, but now it might be good for us to regain our balance and get up and say that nothing happened, and not because we are playing at home that the teams we face allow us to win."
In the same group, Norway, the runner-up in the world championship in 2017 and 2019, defeated Argentina with a score of 36-31.
In the first group, Spain beat Slovenia 25-22, Croatia beat Japan 30-29, and Germany beat Sweden 30-27.
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