By: Nabila Essam

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, praised the performance of the players of the Egyptian national team despite their lose to Sweden, with a score of 24-23, at the end of Group G matches at World Handball Championship competitions, which Egypt is hosting till January 31 with the participation of 32 teams.

The match was attended by Dr. Hassan Moustafa, President of the International Handball Federation, Mr. Per-Axel Frielingsdorf, Swedish ambassador to Egypt, and Eng. Hesham Hatab, President of the Egyptian Olympic Committee.

The first half of the match ended with a threee-goal lead for Egypt with a score of 12-9. It was a tough match between the two sides; the Egyptian team remained, throughout the whole game, ahead until the last minutes, when the Swedish national team came from four-goals down to win the game 24-23. Despite their loss, Egypt secured their place in the main round, ended to be in second place of Group G, as Sweden sit top of the Group. Macedonia reached the main round and ended to be in third place in Group G after defeating Chile 32-29. Egypt, Russia, Belarus, and Slovenia will be in one group in the main round.

The Minister of Youth and Sports called on the Pharaohs to exert more effort to please the Egyptian fans, to capture the championship title, and to climb on the podium of the World Cup.  

The Egyptian handball team played this game with the same squad of the last game with Macedonia, which saw the appearance of Ahmed Al-Ahmar instead of Mohsen Ramadan.

The team's list includes: Karim Hindawi, Muhammad Essam Al-Tayyar, Ibrahim Al-Masry, Wissam Nawar, Muhammad Mamdouh Hashem, Ahmed Hisham "Dudu", Saif Al-Daraa, Yahya Khaled, Ahmed Al-Ahmar, Akram Yousry, Muhammad Sanad, Yahya Al-Daraa, Ali Zain, Omar El-wakeel, Ahmed Moamen, and Hassan Kadah.

It should be noted that the World Cup in its 27th edition is played by 32 teams from different countries of the world for the first time, and Egypt is hosting it from 13-31 January 2021, by applying the "health bubble" system to all teams and members of the delegations participating in the tournament.  

The championship is being held in 4 halls, namely, the main hall in Cairo Stadium, the New Administrative Capital hall, the Burj Al Arab hall, and the Dr. Hassan Mostafa hall in 6th of October City.