Egypt's handball team will begin playing for the President's Cup after failing to reach the second round of the world championship. Inas Mazhar reports For the third time in a row Egypt failed to make it to the second round of the World Handball Championship. In the preliminary round in Germany, Egypt lost to the reigning world champions Spain 33-29 and to the Czech Republic 31-30 before beating Qatar 35-24 to secure third place in its Group D. Only the first two teams from each group advance Despite the losses, the Egyptian performance was commendable. In the two games against the Spaniards and Czechs the Egyptians were equal at the half; against the Spaniards (17-17) and against the Czech Republic (16-16). The Egyptians in fact took the lead in the second half in both games but the last minutes of the games reflected the unsolved problem for most of the Egyptian team, fatigue and loss of concentration. Spain and the Czech Republic capitalised on both problems. Despite the losses Egypt will still be able to win something, the President's Cup, a consolation prize. And, according to the International Handball Federation, Spain's hard tough over Egypt left the question open as to whether the Iberians can achieve a coup again, proof that Egypt's newly-formed team is making an impressive comeback after several veterans retired. Spain overcame the Czech Republic 35:29 (19:15). The Czechs also earned a spot in the main round. Egypt and Qatar are to compete in the President's Cup. The points from the encounter went to the team from the Nile, 35:24 (14:11). Egypt was hoping to be the first non- European team to join the world's leaders. It had reached a high fourth place at the World Championship in France in 2001. Since then, most of the team's key players have either retired or turned pro abroad. The Tunisians are the only African and Arab team taking part in the first round among 11 European teams. The Tunisians were ranked fourth in the last World Championship which they hosted in 2005. The final matches of the preliminary round helped establish the 12 participants of the main round as well as the teams competing in the President's Cup and the placement matches. The matches held on Monday night revealed some surprising results. Iceland fell but stood up again. Following a defeat to the Ukraine, coach Alfred Gislason's side took European champions France by surprise denying them 32:24 (18:8) to accompany the Frenchmen to the main round. As expected Tunisia and Slovenia already earned qualification in Group A before their encounter that ended 27:34 (14:16). In Group C of the host, Poland claimed a 27:25 (14:12) win over Germany on Monday night. Both teams had gone through to the main round. Meeting Norway in Group E, Denmark managed a 27:25(15:13) win that was significant in view of the qualification to the main round. Hungary had already booked their tickets to the next phase (34:31 against Angola). Norway and Angola are to participate in the President's Cup. Despite their defeat to the 2005 world championship runner-ups Croatia (27:32) in Group F in Stuttgart, the Russia side won through to the main round together with Croatia. Drawing with Korea in terms of points -- 32:19 victory over Morocco -- the team of coach Wladimir Maximov had a better goal difference. The opening matches at the preliminary round witnessed two big surprises when in Group E (Kiel) Hungary pipped much higher esteemed Denmark (30:29) whereas Korea drew with Russia (32:32), one of the contenders for the title. The 12 teams competing in the main round were divided into two groups of six teams each. The teams ranked first and second in groups A, B and C were placed in group one -- Slovenia, Tunisia, Iceland, France, Poland and Germany. The teams placed first and second in groups D, E and F were placed in group 2 -- Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Croatia and Russia. The preliminary round results of the teams playing in the same main round group will be taken into consideration when the main round continues until Sunday. These teams will play a round robin tournament. The top four teams from each group will qualify to the quarter-finals while the last two in each group will play off for places from 9 to 12. The 12 remaining teams will not say an early bye to the tournament. They will have the chance to play more matches. The teams ranked third of groups A, B, C and D, E, F were put together in groups 1 & 2 respectively as three in each. Accordingly Kuwait, Ukraine and Argentina play in group 1, while Egypt, Norway and Korea play in group 2. The teams placed fourth in groups A, B, C and D, E, F were put together in groups 3 & 4 respectively. Greenland, Australia and Brazil were placed in group 3 while Qatar, Angola and Morocco were placed in group 4. These teams will play a round robin tournament in the President's Cup before playing placement matches from 13 to 24. The championship has seen a spectacular turnout thus far. On Friday, Horst Köhler, president of the Federal Republic, officially opened the XX Men's World Handball Championship. After a 30-minute ceremony at Berlin Max-Schmeling Hall, Germany's head of state gave the official starting signal for a total of 92 matches. Never before has there been a greater interest in a WCH tournament. Handball fans in nearly 150 countries witnessed the opening ceremony and the subsequent match between host Germany and Pan- American champions Brazil (27-22). Moreover 10,000 poured into the German capital's arena to watch the match on site. The carnival band De Höhner performed the official German WCH song. Prior to the gala, crowds saw the world's biggest handball. Sponsor Select showed the biggest handball on earth, measuring 1.80m in circumference and weighing 22kg, earning a World Record Guinness entry. The 2007 WCH attracts huge media interest. Over 1,300 applied for accreditation to attend the championship. One hundred and fifty countries acquired the right to film at the German halls from TV rights holder Sportfive. A few nations bargained for TV coverage until the very last moment. A new TV audience record has already been set.
