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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Handball heartbreak
World champions Sweden survived an early scare in the quarter-finals to beat Egypt 27-23 and shatter the country's dream of an Olympic medal in handball.Ignited by hard-running Andreas Larsson and the strong Stefan Loevgren, Sweden recovered from 8-8 almost 12 minutes into the first half to lead 14-12 at the break.
Sweden dictated terms at the start of the second half to go up 19-16 after 10 minutes but Egypt, with Ma'moun Sherif and creative Hussein Zaki working hard, levelled at 19-19.
A two-minute suspension reduced Egypt to five players and Sweden took advantage of the extra space, scoring three goals to none to take control.
Egypt lost goalkeeper Mohamed El-Naquib with an injury to his right knee with nine minutes remaining and had two-minute suspensions put on two players simultaneously with the score at 23-21. Sweden consolidated with four late goals to finish the Egyptians off.
Though Egypt is out of medal contention, it will have a chance to finish higher than in previous Olympics when it meets Germany tomorrow as part of fifth to eighth place deciding matches. In 1992 in Barcelona, Egypt finished 11th. In Atlanta 1996, it improved to sixth.
In a qualifying group encounter in Sydney Egypt beat Germany 22-21.
Sweden, meanwhile, advances to the semis against Spain which registered a last gasp one-goal victory over Germany in another quarter-final. Left winger Rafael Guijosa fired in the clincher with six seconds remaining on the clock. Guijosa weaved through the German defence before firing in for Spain, the bronze medallist in Atlanta, grabbing back the lead it had lost two minutes earlier.
Egypt up-ended Germany in a group qualifier Germany led 13-11 at half-time after fighting back from 6-10 down, scoring six goals to one during the final eight minutes of the first half.
Germany still led the game in the second half, but Guijosa scored a game-high nine goals from 12 shots, quickly setting up Spain's attacks.
Yugoslavia moved to a semi-final showdown with Russia following a 26-21 victory over much-favoured France. France took command from the start, leading 5-2. But Yugoslavia came back with seven goals to take the lead and finish the first half a goal ahead, 10-9. Yugoslavia kept the pressure on, making the most of France's missed opportunities and handling errors to increase its lead by five goals. Nedeljko Jovanovic, who had been a key playmaker throughout the tournament, set up several goals and scored seven for Yugoslavia.
Earlier, Russia crushed Slovenia 33-22. The aggressive Slovenians came out firing, but soon came unstuck, unable to break down Russia's 3-2-1 defence which was brilliantly orchestrated by captain Andrei Lavrov and Edouard Kokcharov, top scorer with seven goals.
It took 15 minutes for Russians to take the lead, but once on top they relentlessly wore down the Slovenians.
