Korean men’s handball missed the preliminary round with a 2nd World Championship

(Seoul = News 1) Reporter Hwang Seok-jo = Korean men’s handball was eliminated with a second straight victory in the World Championship qualifier.

The Korean national team, led by manager Kang Il-gu, lost 24-32 to Belarus in the second leg of Group H of the 27th World Men’s Handball Championship held in Alexandria, Egypt on the 17th (Korean time).

As a result, Korea was defeated 29-51 in the first leg against Slovenia, and remained at the bottom of the group with a second straight defeat.

There are still matches with the Russian Federation team, but according to the winner-win principle, Korea is unable to place 3rd in the group, so the qualifying round was confirmed. This tournament will advance to the final league only up to the top 3 in groups of 8.

On this day, Korea showed a better start compared to the last Slovenian War. In particular, goalkeeper Lee Chang-woo showed off his decisive save three times. However, the gap in offensive power could not be reduced, so the first half ended with 6 points behind.

In the second half of the year, Korea launched an offensive and pursued a chase, but failed to narrow the gap and could not avoid losing by 8 points.

Although no meaningful results were left, the national team, consisting of 19 college students and 1 high school student, put more weight on experience rather than results.

In a situation where it is difficult to form an elite member as the unemployment league is in full swing, the two-week self-isolation due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and the preliminary schedule for the March Tokyo Olympics overlapped to boldly select and focus.

An official from the Korea Handball Association said, “Previously, the league was temporarily suspended at the time of the tournament, but this time, we had to consider self-isolation due to Corona 19. It was also necessary to prepare for the Olympic qualifier held in March.” It was also meant to occupy it because the generational change was in progress.”

Meanwhile, Belarus, which became 1 win and 1 draw, succeeded in advancing to the finals. The Russian Federation team overpowered Slovenia by 31-25, recording 1 win and 1 draw, and Slovenia lost 1 win. The final match between the ROK and Russian Federation teams, Slovenia and Belarus will be held on the 18th.

Russia, which has been restricted from participating in major international sports competitions for two years due to recognition of doping sample manipulation, participated in this event as a team of the Russian Federation.

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