Youth World Handball: Qatar Defeat Algeria 25-21

Yekaterinburg, Russia August 11 (QNA) - Qatar defeated Algeria, 25-21, and climbed to the third place in Group C at the Youth (Men's) World Handball Championship at the Palace of Sports Stadium here Tuesday. Trailing 10-11 at half-time in the third round of matches, Qatar lads stepped up the tempo in the final ten minutes to hold on to their four-point lead. Heiba Moustafa again excelled with six goals while Nour Ahmed and Amor Dhiab scored four goals each. Omar Abdelfattah, Abdulaziz Helali and Amine Guehis scored three goals each. Djeghaba Baha Nidhal (6), Hammad Merouane (5) and Abdi Ayyoub (4) and Hellal Nour Eddine (3) played well for Algeria. Qatar coach Julian Gomez said, "This was a very difficult match because Algerias mentality is always difficult for us they always fight, they never give up." In the first match of the day, Denmark scored an easy, 37-27, (half-time 15-9) win over Croatia and advanced to the knock-out stage by topping Group C with six points. Later, Switzerland raised their form and determination to upstage hosts Russia 29-26. Cheered by around 2,000 fans, the hosts ended the first half, a mere one point behind the Swiss team (13-14). Lenny Rubin with seven goals, Albin Alili (6) and Tim Aufdenblatten (6) displayed sharp shooting skills to ensure Switzerland's victory.Razmaev Vladislav and Dmitri Santalov scored six goals each for the losers. In Group D matches today, Japan beat Argentina 24-23 (ht 11-11); Slovenia beat Brazil 34-27 (ht 22-13) and France beat Tunisia 34-24 (ht 14-9). France and Slovenia entered the knock-out stage with six points each. In Group B, Norway who beat Germany 31-29 (ht 13-16) and Iceland who edged out Egypt 31-29 (ht 18-12) qualified for the knock-out stage. Third-placed Spain hammered Venezuela 47-7 (ht 21-5). In Group A, Hungary outclassed Serbia 42-29 (ht 21-15), Sweden drubbed South Korea 37-25 (ht-20-12) and in the last match Poland beat Chile 28-16 (ht 16-8). Hungary lead Group A with six points, followed by Sweden (50) and Poland (3). With a strong squad backed by goalkeeper Ahmed Abdelrhem, Qatar were the favourites ahead of the game. The GCC team were in control through the opening minutes as Algeria took a while to settle in, but it was a slow start for the score board. Algeria put their first in the net just before the five-minute mark and the score was level at 1:1. Qatar took the lead and began to increase it against Algeria's 3:3 defence, and by the 17th minute led by three goals (7:4). Qatar players then failed to score for more than five minutes. Algeria fought back to come within one goal difference courtesy of a goal by line player Damir Mohamed Riad in the 19th (7:6). However, Hammad Meroune equalised with a fast break in the 22nd minute (7:7), and from there it was a one-for-one race to the break. Though Algeria had a one-goal lead at half-time, it did not take Qatar long to level the score then claim the advantage with a fast break from left wing Amor Dhiab. But Algeria answered and the score line progressed evenly from there. Abdelrhem saved an Algeria fast break attempt in the 17th minute to keep the score at 17:17 before Qatar really kicked into gear. A precise shot into the top right corner from left back Moustafa Heiba, who played an outstanding game, scoring five goals for his side, took Qatar to a four-goal lead with just over six minutes left (23:19). Algeria continued to push and closed the score line to two, switching to man-on-man defence in the 58th minute (23:21). But Heiba scored from the six-metre line inside the last minute before Abdelrhem saved Algerias next shot, and the game was decided. In the first match, Denmark opened with five consecutive goals before the Croats got their act together. Croatia tried seven on six but were still unable to find the back of the net, with goalkeeper Simon Gade causing them a lot of trouble. The Balkan team had to wait until the 11th minute for their first goal a fast break from right wing Ivan Martinovic (5:1). Later, the Danes hit a 10-goal lead in the 40th minute, and with that the victory was decided. The Scandinavian team finished with a decisive win, giving them six points on the table and guaranteeing their spot in the quarter-finals. Despite a crowd of Russian supporters, the hosts took time to accelerate. Switzerland got into the groove immediately, scoring five goals before Russia right back Ruslan Dashko added their first in the sixth minute (5:1). It was a low scoring opening a penalty save from Russia keeper Iyrii Sergeev in the 16th minute kept the score at 5:1, where it stayed until their second goal courtesy of right wing Timofei Maslennikov just after the ten-minute mark (5:2). After 15 minutes Switzerland held a five-goal lead (8:3) before Russia slowly closed the score line to trail by two goals with five minutes remaining in the half (13:11). In the last two minutes Sergeev made three saves to keep Switzerland within reach as his teammates at the other end fought to level the score. Russia missed the chance to equalise in the last seconds of the period, and Switzerland took a one-goal lead with them into the break. When the match resumed everything seemed to fall into place for Switzerland while Russia made several technical mistakes. By the 40-minute mark Switzerland had created a four-goal advantage, and with 15 minutes left they were ahead by five (24:19). With the support of the home crowd Russia fought to the end, but when the score sat at 28:24 in the 28th minute Switzerlands victory was sealed. Switzerland coach Michael Suter said, "Against Russia it is always a very tough game for us. We played equal against Russia in the qualification for the Under 18 European Championship, then we lost in training games in April and today was our day. "We tried to defend more flat more moving sideways against the very strong back players: Dashko and Santilov. They are very good players and there is hope and a big future for Russian handball." (QNA)