Egypt failed to make an appearance on the podium of the World Handball Juniors Championship. Inas Mazhar reports The Germans were crowned the new world champion of the XVII Men's World Handball Juniors Championship. Against the odds, Germany beat European champions Denmark 32-24 in the final which saw German spectators attending the match, cheering strongly for their team from the stands in Cairo. It was an unforgettable night for the young gentlemen of the German team who managed to avenge their loss to Denmark in the final of the European Championship last year. Before the match, Denmark, the European champion was favourite to win the title especially that they were the only team in the tournament who had successfully won all their matches going into the final. Overpowering the host team Egypt in the semi- final in front of the huge Egyptian crowd, the Danes were tipped to win the World Cup. But the Germans took their opponents by surprise and held possession of the ball and full control of the game since the beginning of the match using a tight defence. Half time was 13-11 for Germany. Though the second half was more difficult for Germany as they faced two suspensions and played with four players against a full squad from Denmark, they managed to maintain their lead and take control of the game. The Danes did their best for a time to narrow the goal difference to two but it didn't last as the Germans dominated again. And that was it. The Germans went into third gear. And while the players were scoring, the players on the bench cheered and their fans in the stands supported as well. Tears were running from German head coach Martin Heuberger. In a press conference that followed the match he said he was confident of his team and of their ability to win the title this year. He said he saw Denmark playing against Egypt and he didn't think they showed the same strength when he played them in the European championship last year. Heuberger said they did great in the tournament and deserved winning the cup in the end. The German team stepped onto the podium to receive their gold medal and donned their T-shirts with a picture of Sebastian Faiât, who passed away in March this year. In front of a low spectator turn-out Slovenia beat Egypt 35-24 to take third place. There were reasons for the poor attendance in the final day: Egypt was not playing in the final; and the time of the third place match was changed for TV reasons because of the broadcasting of national football league matches, not giving the media enough time to publish the new times. The Slovenians claimed the bronze medal in a one-sided game. It was obvious from the beginning that the bronze medal would go to the visitors when they took the lead 5-0 and then 10-1 by the middle of the first half. The hosts looked as if they had thrown in the white towel early. Egypt came from behind in the second half of the match. The nine goal difference dropped to five at 22-17. But the Egyptians fell back again to end 35- 24. The Slovenian head coach of Egypt Slavko Ivezic admitted after the game that he was stunned by the performance of his team which he didn't expect. Overall, the head coach said that he was thrilled with the results which his team displayed throughout the tournament. He announced that as far as he was concerned, he had achieved a personal record by winning five medals in youth and junior world championships. The Egyptians still celebrated despite losing third place and the bronze medal. Karim Hendawi was named best goalkeeper and was selected to the All- Star team of the tournament. The best left wing trophy went to David Razgor from Slovenia, the pivot went to Federik Borm of Denmark, and the best right wing went to Patrick Grotzki of Germany. Denmark's Nikolaj Markussen won the left back trophy. Germany's Andrej Kogut took the centre back honors while Argentina's Federico Vieyra was named the best right back in the tournament. At the closing ceremony the International Handball Federation president Hassan Mustafa witnessed the folding of the championship flag and together with Hadi Fahmi, president of the Egyptian Handball Federation, they presented the flag of the championship to the vice president of the Greek Handball Federation Pantellis Chatziioannou, organiser of the next edition of the World Handball Juniors Championship scheduled to be held in Greece in 2011. The next edition will be the 18th since the creation of the championship. Chatziioannou thanked Mustafa and the Egyptian officials and invited all the teams to the 18th World Handball Championship, saying "See you in Greece."
