A Monday win over Argentina revived Egyptians’ hope to qualify for the second stage of the 2019 IHF Men’s Handball World Championship, held in Denmark and Germany from 10 to 27 January.
The national team, led by Spanish coach David Davis, will play Hungary at the Royal Arena in the fourth round of the 26th edition of the tournament.
So far, Egypt played three games, in which they lost to Sweden 24-27, and Qatar 23-28, but beat Argentina 20-22.
Davis gave the players a short rest on Tuesday following their great performance against Argentina. The Spanish coach has replaced player Akram Yosry with Omar Hagag in the Argentina game.
The current squad consists of 18 players: Karim Handawy (Beşiktaş); Mohamed El-Tayar (Zamalek); Yahia Omar (Zamalek); Eslam Eissa (Al-Ahly); Ahmed Khairy (Al Ahly); Mohamed Maher (Al Gazira); Ibrahim El-Masry (Al Ahly); Abdelrahman Abdou (Al Ahly); Omar El-Wakil (Al Ahly); Yehia El-Deraa (Zamalek); Akram Saad (Zamalek); Ahmed El-Ahmar (Zamalek); Mohamed Shebib (Montpellier Handball); Ali Zein Al Abedin (Sharjah); Mohamed Sanad (USAM Nîmes Gard), and Karim Abdelrahim (Zamalek).
The top three teams from the four groups will qualify to the next round, and will be divided into two groups. Each group will be arranged according to each team’s points from the first round. The first two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, then they meet to compete in the final.
The Pharaohs were drawn in Group D, alongside Qatar, Argentina, Hungary, Angola and Sweden. All the group’s games are played in Denmark.
The Egyptian mission is spearheaded by Moamen Safa, treasurer of the federation; coach Davis; Hussein Zaky and Hany El-Fakharany, assistant coaches; Fenio Lozart, goalkeeping coach; Nour Abuzaid, administrative manager; Mohamed Shawky, doctor, and Mohamed Emam, performance analyst.
