The World Handball Cup began Thursday night in Sweden and runs until January 30. The Sweden-Chile opener started Thursday night, as The Gazette went to print. The event includes 24 countries from all over the world. Africa will build on its usual three musketeers " Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria " which dominated the podium at the last African Nations Championship, played in Cairo in 2009. The Pharaohs face Germany Friday night, hoping to win their opener, having trained hard in Spain. The Scandinavians have four world titles, four European titles, as well as many other honours, to their credit, while Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria have won 34 world titles and 19 African titles. Tunisia and Egypt will have to fight hard to survive, as only one of them will be able to make it past the first round. To understand why, you only have to look at the composition of Group A, which contains both Tunisia and the Pharaohs, as well as some of the best in the world. France are the world champions and reigning Olympic champions, while Germany were world champions 2007 and European champions in 2004. As for Spain, 2005 world champions, winning on that occasion at home, they have been in the world's top three since the early 2000s, while the country is home to two or three of the world's best professional clubs. The Pharaohs won the World Cup in Cairo in 2001. Algeria, in Group C, are under less pressure than their two North African neighbours. Present at the 2009 World Cup, but absent in 2007, they are slowly returning to the top with a younger and inexperienced team. The Algerians' major threat is Croatia, in a group that also includes Denmark, Serbia and Romania. In fact, Bouchekriou Salah's men will only be favourites against Australia, the modest representatives of Oceania. The composition of the groups Group A: France, Spain, Germany, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain Group B: Iceland, Norway, Austria, Hungary, Brazil, Japan Group C: Croatia, Denmark, Serbia, Romania, Australia, Algeria Group D: Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, South Korea, Argentina, Chile First round fixtures Jan 14: Tunisia vs France, Germany vs Egypt, Serbia vs Algeria Jan 16: Tunisia vs Spain; Egypt vs France, Algeria vs Croatia Jan 17: Tunisia vs Egypt, Romania vs Algeria Jan 19: Spain vs Egypt, Bahrain vs Tunisia, Denmark vs Algeria Jan 20: Germany vs TunisiaEgypt vs Bahrain, Algeria vs Australia.
