By: Nabila Essam

The Pharaohs defeated Russia 28-23 in the 1st round of Group IV matches in the main round at World Handball Championship, which contains Sweden, the Russian Handball Federation, Slovenia, Belarus, and Macedonia. 

The Egyptian team were dominant throughout the first half of the match, led by Ahmed El-Ahmer, and goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Tayar, and they led 15-8.

During the second half, the Egyptian side remained dominant amid attempts by the Russian Handball Federation to control the match and to overcome the Egyptian compact defence, but the Egyptian performance was superb which allowed Egypt to win the game and to win the first two points in the main round.

Egypt is set to face Belarus next Friday at 7 pm, before facing Slovenia next Sunday at the end of its main-round confrontations.

Egypt secured their place in the main round after winning over Chile and Macedonia, and a loss by Sweden.

The total number of goals scored by the Egyptian national team in the preliminary round reached 96, while conceding 72 goals in the three matches. The Egyptian team's goalkeepers managed to keep out 43 shots out of a total of 106 shots. 

Egypt is hosting the World Handball Championship in its 27th edition from 13-31 January 2021, with the participation of 32 teams. 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.