Egypt vs the world

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TO MARK the Egyptian Handball Federation's 50th anniversary, a world selection team came and beat the Egyptian national team 40-39.

It was the second time the world selection team had played a friendly match versus Egypt. The first encounter took place at the same venue in December 1994 when the world team, beat their hosts 26-24.

Watching from the stands on Sunday at the Cairo Stadium indoor complex was Hassan Mustafa, the president of both the international and Egyptian handball federations, as well as top officials of the state and ambassadors.

The visitors started the game strongly. The team comprised players representing Sweden, Iceland, France, Croatia, Spain and Slovenia. Egypt's head coach, Croatia's Irvan Smailjac, was himself a member of the world selection squad which played against Egypt in 1994.

Sunday's game was 23-19 at half-time in favour of the world team. In the second half, Egypt's goalie Mohamed El-Naqib, the only Egyptian remaining from the team that played in 1994, was super in saving several sure goals and preventing the world selection team from taking the lead until the last seconds of the match when at 39-39, the world scored the winner to win by a goal.