The play-off match for the bronze medal was a thrilling and hard-fought game between the Egyptians and Germans, going into two periods of extra time. It was a narrow loss for Egypt who was beaten 35-34. Despite the fourth place finish, it was a remarkable achievement for Egyptian juniors handball. Almost 22 years ago, Egypt's young handball players stunned the world when they clinched the title in the 1993 World Championship. Interestingly, the current head coach of the Juniors team Wael Abdelaaty was a member of the squad who were crowned world champions. He was hoping to make history again by repeating the feat as a coach. Following the match, the Egyptian coach spoke to reporters saying “Despite the result of the match against Germany, I'd like to thank all my players for their brave spirit and strong performance,” the Egyptian coach told reporters after the game. “They were hard to stop against Europe's top teams from Germany, France, and Sweden.” In Brazil, the Egyptian team were ready to go since the start. After three wins and a draw, the Egyptian team managed to qualify to Round 16, behind Germany and ahead of Brazil, in one of the most difficult groups of the tournament. The group also included Norway, Japan, and Uruguay. At this stage, the top national teams started to more interest in the Egyptian team, and realised how threatening and motivated the Egyptian players were. After impressive play in the group round, Egypt moved to the tougher knock-out stage. They took on Korea in Round 16. It was a very close game since the start and exciting until the end. But it was the Pharaohs who sealed the 39-36 victory in the end. “We played together as a team, and this made all the difference,” said Egypt's player Mohab Hossam. Hossam won the tournament's best player in the centre back position. “I am glad I won this award, and I am very proud of what we achieved as a team,” said Hossam. In the quarter-finals, Egypt played against defending champions Sweden. Forgetting about the odds against them, the Egyptians went into the game with confidence and the managed to level the score at half-time 15-15. The second half was dramatic, with rising tension, players on both sides losing concentration, and even a yellow card shown to the Swedish coach. The teams were at 27 – 27 until the last minute. Abdelaaty held his team together with some manoeuvres to close his defense, and succeeded in clenching a precious 28 - 27 victory in the last 43 seconds of the game to reach the semi-finals. The French team blocked Egypt's chance to make it to the final by winning 32-30 in a tough battle for the young players, and dashed their hopes to win the championship. France went on to claim the 2015 World Juniors after beating Denmark in the final match 26-24. The French juniors followed the footsteps of their seniors who won the gold medal of the World Men's Handball Championship earlier this week in Qatar. Next week, Russia will host the third men's tournaments of this year, the World Youth Championship. The world championships are biannual events. After the France defeat, Egypt played off for the bronze medal and the team had strong hopes to make it to the podium and win the bronze medal. Despite battling it out very hard, the Egyptians failed to stop the Germans and lost by one point in a nail-biting match for Egyptian fans who were glued to television screens. “If we were better prepared by our federation, we would've been more successful,” said Mohamed Hazem Al-Amin, a player of the team. Al-Amin added that the federation did not provide a proper camp, just two friendly matches in Serbia in anticipation that the team would not make it to Round 16. They had even booked a return flight to Egypt in advance, believing the team will return home after the group round. Since 1993, Egyptian handball had been among the top ten in world handball, but the sport began deteriorating in 2001 due to poor administration. When new management took over four years ago, it worked on bringing back the sport to its days of glory and it seems to have paid off over the past two years with this juniors team winning the gold and silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in 2010 and 2014, and placing 4th in the 2015 World Championship.
