Live aus Paris: SPORT4FINAL-Redakteur Frank Zepp.
24.01.2017 – France Handball / SPORT4FINAL / Frank Zepp:
Handball WM 2017 Frankreich: Eight qualified with two surprises
This Sunday was fatal for the outgoing and undefeated Olympic and EURO champions: Denmark, beaten by Hungary (25:27), while Germany lost Qatar (20:21), both two teams losing to teams that came fourth in their respective groups.
France, who defeated Sweden (31:25) and Spain, victorious against Brazil (28:27), are now the last two teams to have won six games in the tournament.
Of the eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals, four were already in the top eight at the Rio Games: Qatar, France, Slovenia and Croatia.
Five were in the quarter-finals at the 2015 World Championship: Croatia, Qatar, Spain, Slovenia and France.
Absent in Qatar and then in Rio, Hungary have made a return to the forefront by qualifying for the quarter-finals, as they did in 2013. Let’s see can they go one step further…
Of the eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals, four have already been crowned champions of the world: France, Spain, Sweden and Croatia; Qatar were runners-up at the World Championship in 2015, Hungary in 1986, Slovenia 4th in 2013, Norway have never been in the quarter-finals!
As in 2015, Qatar are the only non-European country in the quarter-finals.
Three Spanish coaches in the quarter-finals: Jordi Ribera (Spain), Xavier Sabate (Hungary) and Valero Rivera (Qatar).
Three coaches of quarter-finalists have been world champions as players: Didier Dinart and Guillaume Gille (France), Veselin Vujovic (Slovenia).
After the knock-out stage, Kiril Lazarov of FYR Macedonia with 50 goals (62%) is ahead of Tunisian Amine Bannour 44 (55%), Angolan Sergio Lopes 42 (53%).
Belarusian Barys Pukhouski (39) remains ahead of Norwegian talent Sander Sagosen (31) and Frenchman Nikola Karabatic (30) in the assists ranking.