Slovenia were the only SEHA national team to step on WCh courts today and although they were given favorite role before the match against Tunisia they did not manage to take full bags after a 28:28 draw and Blaz Janc' buzzer-beater to save the day. Slovenians have opened the match well being 2 goals up after first 30 but Tunisians have managed to close the gap in the second mostly due to their goalkeeper Missaoui who finished the match with 15 saves while on the other side Slovenian goalies combined for only 9. Kavticnik was leading them in this one scoring 7, Janc added 6, Zarabec 4, Cingesar 2, Blagotinsek, Marguc, Kodrin and Mackovsek 1 each. Veselin Vujovic and his players still have a chance to end the preliminary round on top of group B but to do that they will have to beat Spain in the final round on Thursday. This draw will also make Macedonians happy as they have with it secured a place in eighth-finals after being given minor chances to do so before the tournament.

Norway have once again managed to confirm good form on WCh dominantly beating Brazil with 39:26. Young star Sagosen was leading them with 7 goals, Bergerud had 13 saves. Norway are now 3/4 with hosts being the only team which has so far managed to beat them in the competition.

Poland have managed to reach their first points in France with a narrow win over Japan 26:25. Japanese players were two goals up after first 30 mostly due to fantastic performance from Ushida who was leading them today with 9 goals in total but Poles have managed to turn the match over and take the first win. Daszek was once again their best scorer with 5, Morawski added 12 saves.

France have with a dominant win over Russia (35:24) managed to secure the first place in group A. Dipanda shined with 8, Mahe added 7 with French players already enlarging the gap to 5 before the break. Shishkarev was on the other side leading Russia with 6. Atman added 2.

Blowout win for Iceland against Angola - 33:19. Gudjon Sigurdsson was once again leading Iceland in scoring with 8, this time also towards their premier here in France. Lopes scored as much for Angola. Iceland have with this win made a step towards eighth-finals while on the other side Angola can already pack their bags for Brest where they will play on President's Cup.

'Bad boys' are also rolling in group C as they have with 38:24 managed to demolish Saudi Arabia who were so far proving to be a tough opponent even for stronger teams. Steffen Fath was leading Germany with 6 in a match in which whole team delivered a solid all-around performance. Alzaer scored 8 for Saudi Arabia. Macedonian referees Nacevski and Nikolov were in charge of this encounter.

Slovenian referees Lah and Sok were on the other hand in charge of the only match played today in Paris in group D in which Qatar have managed to closely beat Argentina 21:17. The match was special due to the fact that Argentines scored only 2 goals in whole first half! Saric was leading Qatar from between posts with 14 saves today allowing Argentina only 17 goals in total. Federico Fernandez was on the other side in good mood scoring 7 in second half only.

Matchday 7 (17.1.2017)

Group A: Norway - Brazil 39:26 (18:13) (Sagosen 7/Chiuffa, Pozzer 6), Poland - Japan 26:25 (9:11) (Daszek 5/Ushida 9), Russia - France 24:35 (11:16) (Shishkarev 6/Dipanda 8)

Group B: Slovenia - Tunisia 28:28 (15:13) (Kavticnik 7/Sanai 8), Angola - Iceland 19:33 (8:16) (Lopes 8/Sigurdsson 8)

Group C: Germany - Saudi Arabia 38:24 (21:13) (Fath 6/Alzaer 8)

Group D: Qatar - Argentina 21:17 (9:2) (Mallash 5/Fernandez 7)

Slovenia will be the only SEHA national team to have a day off on Wednesday. Macedonia will, in the only match scheduled for Wednesday in Metz, play Spain in an encounter which will be interesting for SEHA fans with two of Spain’s most important players - back duo Dujshebaev and Canellas playing for Macedonian Vardar Skopje. Hungary will on the other side open the day in group C in Rouen with a match against Saudi Arabia, Belarus will later play Germany and Croatia will close the day against Chile. By these matches probably the most interesting match of the day will be the one played in Paris between Sweden and Qatar.

We are also slowly getting a look into what eighth-finals pairs will look like and where will each SEHA national team travel in the knockout round. You can now check out full competition schedule each day on the bottom of our matchday overview articles and see where will your team end up in eighth-finals as well as who will they meet there!

Tomorrow on World Championship in France:

Group B: Macedonia - Spain (20.45 CET)

Group C: Saudi Arabia - Hungary (14.00 CET), Belarus - Germany (17.45 CET), Croatia - Chile (20.45 CET)

Group D: Argentina - Egypt (14.00 CET), Denmark - Bahrain (17.45 CET), Sweden - Qatar (20.45 CET)

FULL WCH FRANCE 2017 OVERVIEW

Results Group A

Round 1; France - Brazil 31:16 (17:7) (Porte 6/Toledo 5), Russia - Japan 39:29 (18:15) (Atman, Dibirov, Shishkarev 6/Shida 7), Poland - Norway 20:22 (10:12) (Daszek 7/Hansen 6)

Round 2; Japan - France 19:31 (9:17) (Uegaki 5/Fabregas 7), Brazil - Poland 28:24 (16:11) (Toledo 8/Paczkowski 6), Norway - Russia 28:24 (15:11) (Bjornsen 7/Soroka 8)

Round 3; France - Norway 31:28 (16:12) (N. Karabatic 5/ Sagosen 8), Brazil - Japan 27:24 (14:12) (Langaro 8/Tokuda 7), Poland - Russia 20:24 (9:13) (Gebala 4/Kovalev 7)

Round 4; Norway - Brazil 39:26 (18:13) (Sagosen 7/Chiuffa, Pozzer 6), Poland - Japan 26:25 (9:11) (Daszek 5/Ushida 9), Russia - France 24:35 (11:16) (Shishkarev 6/Dipanda 8)

STANDINGS GROUP A; France 8 (+41), Norway 6 (+16), Russia 4 (-1), Brazil 4 (-21), Poland 2 (-9), Japan 0 (-26),

Results Group B

Round 1; Slovenia - Angola 42:25 (22:13) (Marguc, Mackovsek 9/Lopes 7), Macedonia - Tunisia 34:30 (13:14) (Lazarov 12/Boughanmi 9), Spain - Iceland 27:21 (10:12) (Canellas 4/Sigurdsson 5)

Round 2; Iceland - Slovenia 25:26 (8:11) (Elisson 7/Bezjak 6), Tunisia - Spain 21:26 (10:12) (Toumi 5/Tomas, Balaguer 5), Angola - Macedonia 22:31 (9:14) (Lopes 5/K.Lazarov 10)

Round 3; Iceland - Tunisia 22:22 (11:13) (Sigurdsson 5/Bannour 12), Slovenia - Macedonia 29:22 (16:10) (Marguc, Bezjak 4/K.Lazarov 9), Spain - Angola 42:22 (21:10) (Fernandez 9/Lopes 6)

Round 4; Slovenia - Tunisia 28:28 (15:13) (Kavticnik 7/Sanai 8), Angola - Iceland 19:33 (8:16) (Lopes 8/Sigurdsson 8)

STANDINGS GROUP B; Slovenia 7 (+25), Spain 6 (+31), Macedonia 4 (+6), Iceland 3 (+7), Tunisia 2 (-9), Angola 0 (-60)

Results Group C

Round 1; Belarus - Chile 28:32 (14:14) (Karalek 10/R. Salinas 8), Germany - Hungary 27:23 (16:11) (Gensheimer 13/Jamali, Lekai 3), Croatia - Saudi Arabia 28:23 (12:11) (Cindric 6/Alsalem 5)

Round 2; Hungary - Croatia 28:31 (11:11) (Balogh, Harsanyi 6/Duvnjak 5), Chile - Germany 14:35 (6:17) (Feuchtmann 2/Kohlbacher 8), Saudi Arabia - Belarus 26:29 (13:14) (Alsalem 7/Pukhouski 9)

Round 3; Hungary - Chile 34:29 (17:14) (Jamali 7/Er. Feuchtmann 9), Croatia - Belarus 31:25 (18:15) (Cindric 8/Karalek 7), Germany - Saudi Arabia 38:24 (21:13) (Fath 6/Alzaer 8)

STANDINGS GROUP C; Germany 6 (+39), Croatia 6 (+14), Hungary 2 (-2), Belarus 2 (-7), Chile 2 (-22), Saudi Arabia 0 (-22)

Results Group D

Round 1; Qatar - Egypt 20:22 (8:11) (Capote 5/El-Ahmar 8), Sweden - Bahrain 33:16 (17:5) (Tollbring 10/Habib Hasan 4), Denmark - Argentina 33:22 (17:11) (Hansen 6/F. Fernandez 6)

Round 2; Egypt - Denmark 28:35 (15:21) (Elderaa 6/Svan 6), Argentina - Sweden 17:35 (11:16) (S. Simonet 5/Zachrisson 8), Bahrain - Qatar 22:32 (9:19) (Abdulqader Ali 5/Madadi 8)

Round 3; Egypt - Bahrain 31:29 (17:15) (Elderaa 6/Abdulla Saad 6), Denmark - Sweden 27:25 (14:10) (Hansen 8/Ekberg 7), Qatar - Argentina 21:17 (9:2) (Mallash 5/Fernandez 7)

STANDINGS GROUP D; Denmark 6 (+20), Sweden 4 (+33), Qatar 4 (+12),  Egypt 4 (-3), Bahrain 0 (-29), Argentina 0 (-33)

Eighth-finals:  

Montpellier: 4A vs. 1B (21.1.), 2C vs. 3D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Montpellier.

Albertville: 2A vs. 3B (21.1.), 4C vs. 1D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Albertville.

Lille: 1A vs. 4B (21.1.), 3C vs. 2D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Lille.

Paris: 3A vs. 2B (21.1.), 1C vs. 4D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Paris.

Winners from Lille and Paris will meet in semi-final on Thursday (26.1.) in Accorhotels Arena in Paris.

Winners from Montpellier and Albertville will meet in semi-final on Friday (27.1.) in Accorhotels Arena in Paris.

Bronze-medal match is scheduled from Saturday (28.1.) and final will be played on Sunday (29.1.) both in Accorhotels Arena in Paris.

President’s Cup will be played in Brest with the following schedule:

Saturday (21.1.) (1) 6A vs. 6B, (2) 5A vs. 5B

Sunday (22.1.) (3) 6C vs. 6D, (4) 5C vs. 5D

Monday (23.1.) PLACES 23/24 L(1) vs. L(3), PLACES 21/22 W(1) vs. W(3), PLACES 19/20 L(2) vs. L(4), PLACES 17/18 W(2) vs. W(4)

Photo: France Handball 2017 Flickr