ID :
376873
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 21:38
Auther :

Youth World Handball: France, Brazil And Slovenia Win

Yekaterinburg, Russia, August 10 (QNA) - Ludovic Fabregas and Melvyn Richardson scored five goals each Monday to propel France to 27-18 victory over Japan and to top Group D in the Youth (Men's) World Handball Championship at the Palace of Sports Stadium here. The Frenchmen led 15-12 at half-time. In the first match of the day, in the second round of Group D, Tilen Sokolic scored seven goals and goalkeeper Urh Kastelicto fine blocking helped Slovenia defeat Argentina 29-15 (ht 14-8). Slovenia's second consecutive win took their points tally to four, but France (4pts) lead the group on Goal Difference of +28. In third place with four points are Brazil (GD+6) who prevailed 24-23 over Tunisia in a scrappy encounter that saw referees sending off two players one each from the two teams. Tunisia, Japan and Argentina are yet to win a match in the championship so far. Slovenia raced ahead to lead by three goals after three minutes before Argentina were able to score. But two goals from Andres Moyano and a perfectly-placed wing shot from Nicolas Bono who is a centre back and was shooting out of position helped them get back in the game and by the eighth minute the score was a more respectable 3:5. When Argentina were proving more of a threat than coach Klemencic Janez expected, Slovenia called a time-out (4:6, 11th minute). A two-minute suspension for Andres Moyano followed soon after, and from there Slovenia began to control the game. Although Argentina fought well, Slovenia led by four at half-time, but in the second half they really hurt the Pan American team with ten minutes left they were ahead by 13 goals and it was clear the European side would take their second set of two points. Slovenia's star was goalkeeper Urh Kastelic, who is the only one in his position currently on their start list as their second keeper is out with a minor injury. Kastelic made several big saves, including penalty shots and fast breaks, and even scored a goal when Argentina were compensating for the loss of Lionel Moyano (who received a direct red card) in the 46th minute by using a court player as the goalkeeper substitute. In the end Slovenia almost doubled Argentinas score, with goals contributed from most of the squad and seven coming from Tilen Sokolic. In the second match of the day, France set the scoreboard moving immediately to nose ahead, but a well-executed ground shot from Shinya Yamada, followed by two goals by Isamu Makino levelled the score as the clock ticked past the fifth minute (4:4) and coach Eric Quintin was not impressed. The score remained level with Japan taking the lead courtesy of a goal from right wing Takuma Yasuhira in the 12th minute (7:6). France switched to 5-1 with Melvyn Richardson on point, but Japan continued to maintain a slight edge as they led in the one-for-one scoring race. Midway through the half the score was still level at 9:9, but then France quickly created a narrow lead with line player Ludovic Fabregas putting them two ahead in the 18th minute (9:11). In the next ten minutes France created a four-goal difference (11:15) as Japan worked to use their speed to their advantage. But the French defence was too strong, and they held onto their lead until half-time. France increased their advantage in the second half, though it was a far from perfect game for the European team, with too many missed shots. Japan suffered a scoring drought of more than ten minutes in the middle of the half at the 40-minute mark France led by five (16:21) but kept their opponent out of the goal while they added a few more to their tally. By the time Japan's 17th goal came, with just under ten minutes left on the clock, France had an eight-goal advantage (16:24) and it was clear they would join Slovenia on four points at the top of the table at the final whistle. In the last match of the day, Tunisia started fluently against a Brazil team that had perhaps not been expecting quite the challenge the north African side. After five minutes Tunisia's hustle had earned them a three-goal advantage (4:1) and Brazil coach Ivan Bruno Maziero was forced to call the first time-out of the game. After that the game settled and Brazil slowly closed the score line to trail by one goal midway through the half (5:4). Rangel Luan Rosa was a big part in his teams comeback, saving two penalties and several other Tunisia shots in the first quarter. Tunisia were dealt a blow when goalkeeper Wael Saadallah received a direct red card on the 15-minute mark. Soon after Ahmed Ben Chikh Ahmed was sent off for two minutes, and Tunisia had just four field players on court. But they kept pace and with just over a minute left in the half, right back Anouar Ben Abdallah took the score line to one goal with an exceptional 'eret' shot, and the difference remained the same at the whistle. Tunisia equalised in the first attack of the half, and the race to the 60th minute was on. The teams fought hard through the period, and when left wing Leonardo Abrahao Silveira scored with 10 minutes left it looked like Brazil were about ready to claim the win (18:21). However, their advantage did not last - Tunisia came back within one goal courtesy of Ben Aballah as the match entered its final five minutes (21:22). Brazil inched ahead with a back shot from Henrique Jose Solenta with a minute left (22:24), but they were soon down a player as Gabriel Oliveira Gondim received a direct red card. Patrick Andre Lemos was also sent off and Tunisia faced only four court players as the clock ticked down but Rosa ruined their chance of equalising in the final seconds, and Brazil left the court with their second win. (END)

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