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Olympic Handball Recaps: 31 July (Day 12)

Men's Handball / Group B Preliminaries

BRA vs. ALG

Brazil, Algeria Provide First Tie of Games

In a match for pride, Brazil and Algeria, both winless in Atlanta, battled to a 20-20 tie on Wednesday evening at the Georgia World Congress Center. It is the first tied match in 1996 Olympic Games handball competition. Algeria (0-4-1), by virtue of point differential, advances onward to play the United States in the ninth-place match, while Brazil (0-4-1) will battle Kuwait in the 11th-place contest. Both matches will be contested on Friday.

At half-time Brazil led 11-9 behind the strength of rightwing Daniel ANDRADE's 5-for-5 shooting, while keeper Marcelo SAMPAIO collected 10 saves and a 45.5 save percentage.

By the end of the night, ANDRADE had maintained top scoring honors for Brazil although he did not score again in the match, while his team posted a 54.1 percent shooting efficiency. Leftwing Abdelghani LOUKIL and centerback Salim NEDJEL-HAMMOU paced Algeria in scoring with five goals apiece. In goal, SAMPAIO finished with 17 saves for Brazil, while the top keeper for Algeria, Karim EL MAOUHAB, totaled eight saves and a 42.1 save percentage.

The match had an exciting conclusion. Algeria closed the gap to 19-18 with 3:36 remaining and twice had an opportunity to tie the score but could not convert. Then SAMPAIO drove the ball down court himself on a fastbreak yet failed to score on a shot from the six-meter line. Lying on the playing surface after diving on his attempt, SAMPAIO watched as his shot was rebounded by Algerian leftwing Sofiane KHALFALLAH, who threw the ball 3/4 the length of the court to score with 1:05 left. A Brazilian score tied the match at 20-20. Then in a heated exchange fighting for the ball, Algeria gained control and had one last chance to score with :03 left, but held onto the ball and the tie.

Final Score: BRA 20, ALG 20.


Men's Handball / Group A Preliminaries

USA vs. KUW

Home Team Earns First Win

The United States took the ball inside and overpowered,29-24, a smaller Kuwaiti team, capturing its first victory, in 12 years of Olympic competition Wednesday night at the Georgia World Congress Center.

In Friday's classification matches, the U.S. (1-4) will play Algeria in the ninth-place contest and with a win, team USA would tie its best-ever performance in Olympic competition. Kuwait (0-5) will play Brazil in the 11th-place match.

The United States blazed to an early 6-2 lead and held on throughout the remainder of the first half as Kuwait climbed back from a five-goal deficit to within one goal. But the U.S. weathered the storm and garnered a 13-10 advantage heading into the intermission, its first half-time lead of the tournament. A first half team shooting efficiency of 68.4 percent helped the United States gain the early advantage, a lead which they maintained from start to finish.

A strong all-around performance from the entire U.S squad propelled the team. Several made significant contributions to the cause, including pivot Matt RYAN who collected four blocks, three assists, and three steals, and leftback Darrick HEATH who added seven assists.

Pivot Dave DEGRAAF led the U.S. contingent in the scoring column with 13 points, while leftback Salah ALMARZOUQ was the top point-getter for Kuwait. The United States twice had a six-point lead midway through the second half and the 29 points they tallied were the most they scored in Atlanta.

Final Score: USA 29, KUW 24.

"This was a great win for United States handball, the first in 12 years," said American head coach Richard OLEKSYK. "Many of these guys have worked seven years for this win and no one deserves it more than this team."


Men's Handball / Group A Preliminaries

SWE vs. CRO

OLSSON Rebuffs Croatian Attack

Croatia could not get past Mats OLSSON on Wednesday afternoon at the Georgia World Congress Center. With the Swedish royal family in attendance, OLSSON, the oldest player in the Olympic handball tournament, was rock solid in goal for Sweden, collecting a tournament match-high 24 saves to help lead his team to a 27-18 victory over Croatia and preserve an undefeated record for his nation in the pool play rounds.

With the win, Sweden (5-0) claims the Pool A crown and advances into the medal rounds as a top seed and will face Spain on Friday in the 16:15 semifinal. Croatia (4-1) will also advance into the playoffs and will meet up with France in Friday's 20:45 semifinal.

Croatian coach Velimir KLJAIC sat out four of his starters, including the Olympic Games' leading scorer, centerback Patrik CAVAR, in order to rest them for Friday's semifinal match.

A nip-and-tuck contest throughout the first half was blown wide open in the second stanza when Sweden went on a 13-5 run to open the half. After a low-scoring defensive affair in the first half, in which the score stood at 10-7 in favor of Sweden at intermission, both teams totaled 28 goals in a second-half scoring outburst.

Rightwing Pierre THORSSON and leftwing Erik HAJAS led Sweden in scoring with seven goals apiece, while centerback Zoran MIKULIC topped the list for Croatia with six. Sweden's Staffan OLSSON aided the Swedish cause with his seven assists, as his team shot 65.8 percent for the match. Yet, the story of the day was the outstanding play in goal of Mats OLSSON, who had 12 saves in each half and posted an unbelievable 47.1 save efficiency for the match.

Final Score: SWE 27, CRO 18.

"OLSSON was brilliant," said Swedish head coach Bengt JOHANSSON, summarizing his star player's performance with profound simplicity.


Men's Handball / Group B Preliminaries

FRA vs. GER

Germany Scores Major Upset

Already eliminated from the medal rounds, Germany came out strong against France and ended up sliding by the reigning world champions with a 24-23 upset victory when leftback Jan FEGTER scored on a breakaway goal off a turnover with :13 seconds left in Wednesday afternoon's contest at the Georgia World Congress Center.

France (4-1), which had already locked up the top spot in the Pool B standings, will play Croatia in the semifinals on Friday at 20:45, while Germany (3-2) will play earlier that day in the seventh-place match against Switzerland at 11:45.

Tied at 10-10 at the 2:20 mark prior to the end of the first half, Germany scored the next two goals to take a 12-10 advantage into the locker room. They would extend their lead to as high as three goals on two different occasions early in the second half, but allowed France to close within a goal at 16-15.

Germany raced ahead again by three before allowing France to again close to one goal, tie, and eventually take the lead at 21-20 with 6:25 left on the clock. It was their first lead since a 5-4 advantage early in the match. The score remained within one goal for the remainder of the contest.

Key to the victory was the goalkeeping of Andreas THIEL, who collected eight saves and posted a 40.0 save percentage in the first half. Another factor which helped the Germans race out to the early lead was a 66.7 first-half shooting percentage.

FEGTER tallied seven goals for the winners, while leftwing Raoul PRANDI and centerback Stephane STOECKLIN each tossed six balls into the back of the net for France. THIEL finished with 17 saves, while his two French counterparts jointly totaled 13.

Final Score: GER 24, FRA 23.


Men's Handball, Pool B Preliminaries

EGY vs. ESP

Spain Wins Fourth Straight; Earns Medal-Round Berth

After losing its first match to France by two points, Spain won its final four pool-play contests, including a 20-19 victory over Egypt to move into the medal rounds. In a tight struggle between two of the top teams in Pool B, Spain (4-1) captured the final spot in the semifinals, denying Egypt (3-2) an opportunity to play for the gold medal in the winner-take-all match.

With a tied match giving Spain the elusive medal-round berth, Egypt battled relentlessly in an all-out effort in the final minutes to rally back from a four-goal deficit and tie it at 19-19 with 4:18 remaining. Spain, which only scored two goals in the final 14 minutes of play, then retook the lead at 20-19 with 2:04 left on the clock. The match was not decided until a furious scramble at the end which included Spain's backline, in their penalty-killing defense, blocking two consecutive Egyptian shot attempts at the six-meter line to stave off defeat with :25 remaining.

It was a 5-1 run that brought Egypt back into the match, rallying shorthanded to score two consecutive goals, bringing the tally to 18-17 with 10:24 remaining in the contest. With the score stuck at 19-18 for over five minutes, the Egyptian goalkeeping duo of Mohamed BAKIR and Ayman SOLIMAN, led three strong defensive stands to keep the match close.

An early 4-0 run led Spain to an 11-8 half-time advantage. Spain's rightwing Alberto URDIALES tallied six goals in the first stanza, helping the Spaniards to a 55.0 shooting percentage.

URDIALES finished with eight goals, while rightwing Mahmoud SOLIMAN led Egypt with six. In goal, Jaume FORT tallied 11 saves for Spain, while Ayman SOLIMAN notched 14. Also helping on defense was Spain's leftback Mateo GARRALDA who had three blocks and two steals.

In Friday's medal-round action, Spain will see the loser of Wednesday afternoon's Sweden-Croatia contest, while Egypt will face Russia in the fifth-place match.

Final Score: ESP 20, EGY 19.

"Although we were nervous and tense, we were in control of the game," said Spain's head coach, Jvande ROMAN. "It is one thing to look at the score of the game, but every moment our players were focused and intense."


Men's Handball, Pool A Preliminaries

RUS vs. SUI

Russian Federation Captures Third Victory

In a match that went back and forth early, the Russian Federation used a run that spanned the intermission to pull away from Switzerland, 30-23, in the final pool play contest for two teams which had already been eliminated from the medal rounds. The score went from 10-8 to 18-12 in a span of just under 15 minutes to secure the lead for Russia (3-2) on Wednesday afternoon at the Georgia World Congress Center.

After two heartbreaking losses in earlier action, Russia, the reigning two-time Olympic champion and gold-medal favorite, looked to rebound with a victory. Much of Russia's 14-11 first-half lead came courtesy of centerback Oleg KOULECHOV's 6-for-8 performance, which helped the team to a 60.9 shooting percentage. Adding to their advantage, Russia only allowed four turnovers in the first stanza, and eight for the match.

Russia extended its lead to seven, 21-14, with 16:58 minutes remaining. Leading the way was KOULECHOV with his 9 goals in 12 attempts, as the Russians shot 65.2 percent, while in the passing department, centerback Valeri GOPIN dished out five assists. Swizterland, pushing the pace, generated much of its offense from leftwing Daniel SPENGLER who tallied eight points in nine shots, helping the Swiss (2-3) to shoot 60.5 percent for the match.

For finishing third in Pool A, Russia will play in the fifth-place match against Egypt on Friday after Switzerland meets Germany in the seventh-place contest.

Final Score: RUS 30, SUI 23.


This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.


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Olympic Factoid
The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.