Egypt have made history as they claimed the 2019 U-19 Handball Youth World Championship after beating Germany in the final.
On a historic night in Skopje, with both finalists already assured of their best ranking in history at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, it was Egypt who took their maiden trophy at the event.
Egypt qualified for the tournament as the African champions after winning all six of their games in the 2018 African Men’s Youth Handball Championship.
They were placed in group B alongside France, Sweden, Chinese Taipei, Canada, and Hungary, and they managed to top the group with eight points, suffering just one defeat to defending champions France.
In the round of 16, they overcame Slovenia 30-23, before beating Iceland (35-31) and Portugal (41-36) in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, becoming the first non-European country to reach the final.
They set a date in the final with group D runners-up Germany and despite the European’s side superior record in the competition, having finished third in 2013, the Pharaohs managed to beat them to claim a historic title.
Egypt were leading throughout the match and had a comfortable advantage at half-time, but Germany pulled off a great comeback and made it a tense second half.
In the end, the title was secured with a four-goal win, which made Egypt the first non-European and first African or Arab team to take the gold medal in the competition.
READ: Egypt U-19 crowned handball World Champions
The Pharaohs become the fifth team to win the competition since its inception alongside Denmark (3 titles), France (2 titles), Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro.
The International Handball Federation revealed this year this year Men’s Youth World Championship All-Star Team which included players representing five different nations.
Four members of the winning team were also part of the side that finished third at the U 21 World Championship last month.
The team includes Germany’s Alexander Reimann as left wing, Egypt’s Hassan Walid Ahmed as Left back, Lauritz Reinholdt Leger of Denmark as centre back, Portugal’s right back Martim Costa, Hungary’s right wing Daniel Kecskes, line player Tom Bergner from Germany, and Egypt’s goalkeeper Abdelrahman Mohamed Homayed, Germany’s Julian Koster as best defender, and Egypt’s Hassan Walid Ahmed as top scorer with 51 goals, as well as Egypt’s Ahmed Hesham Elsayed selected as MVP.
It has been a victorious year for Egyptians as the new achievement was a step further than the earlier winning of Egypt’s U-21 team of the bronze medal at the 2019 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in July after beating Portugal 37-27 in the third-place playoff.
The eventual final was won by France who beat Egypt in the semis, while the next best performing African side were Tunisia who finished in 7th place.
Referring now about the older Egypt’s national team, three months ago the EHF, lead by Hesham Nassr, expressed their gratitude to Davis for his efforts in his stint with Egypt during the 2019 World Championship where they finished 8th after a defeat to Spain in seventh place playoff, wishing him success with Veszprem.
On the other hand, the EHF officially stated they have hired current coach of RK Vardar of Macedonia Roberto Garcia Parrondo which have recently made the EHF Champions League semifinal under his guidance.
Parrondo is set to take over at Egypt after the end of his Champions League campaign with Vardar, where he is expected to begin preparations for the African championship which will take place at the beginning of the next year in Tunisia.
These tremendous achievements of Egypt’s handball should boost the momentum of the Pharaohs’ campaign in the African championship next year.
