Egypt, Brazil, Croatia and Iceland are continuing their pursuit for the President’s Cup, after topping their groups, staying undefeated in the group phase. 

PRESIDENT'S CUP
Group I
Egypt v Angola 26:20 (15:10)
India v Paraguay 27:28 (15:15)

The battle of the African powerhouses ended with Egypt securing their third win of the competition, as they staked their claim for the President’s Cup, witb a 26:20 win over Angola.

Following their win over Paraguay yesterday, Egypt only had small teething issues in the first half, but still had a five-goal lead, which they could manage to perfection. Rokaya Mohamed Abdelsalam took her overall tally to 26 goals at China 2026, after scoring eight goals, while goalkeeper Gihad Sayed provided another 13-save performance, for a 41% saving efficiency.

Egypt took the 26:20 win and finished top of the group, followed by Angola, Paraguay and India, and will now face Iceland in the Placement Matches 17-20.

But Paraguay did not have it easy. Despite leading throughout the match, it well went down to the wire. The two teams were tied with six, three and one minute to go, but Paraguay’s top scorer, Melisa Parra Corvalan, scored her eighth goal with a few seconds to go to help her team take the win.

Group II
Brazil v Argentina 18:18 (9:10)
Canada v Türkiye 18:38 (6:20)

A game opposing Brazil and Argentina will also bring plenty of drama, twists and turns and lead changes and this is exactly what happened in this encounter too, as the two sides could not break the deadlock after 60 minutes.

A 4:0 run from Argentina saw them take a 5:3 lead, but Brazil never got in front in the first half, only to tie the score, 10:10, with a 3:0 run, which spanned between the end of the first half and the very start of the second. 

Nhauany Teixeira de Castro scored six goals for Brazil in this low-scoring encounter, as Brazil prevented Argentina to score for 12 minutes and use a 5:0 run to open a 18:16 lead. But Argentina came back and tied the score in the last two minutes, with their most constant scorers in the competition – Helena Molina and Catalina Loscarcos – helping their side tie the score.

Brazil finished top, however, with a better goal difference (+25) than Argentina (+24), and will face Croatia in the Placement Matches 17/20.

After three close losses against the Republic of Korea, Argentina and Brazil, Türkiye finally won their maiden match in the competition and the first one since 2001, outplaying Canada.

Türkiye led by 14 goals at the break and never looked back, with coach David Ginesta shuffling the pack in the second half to secure a 38:18 win, ending up on the third position and heading to the Placement Matches 25-28.

Group III
Algeria v Iceland 23:33 (10:17)
Guinea v United States of America 26:17 (16:10)

After a slow start in the competition, Iceland have been slowly getting back to a better pace and secured the first place in Group III, with wins over Algeria and Guinea. Ásthildur Þórhallsdóttir scored 10 goals in the win against Algeria, which was clear after only a few minutes.

Iceland took a healthy lead, 9:5, after just a few minutes, thanks to Þórhallsdóttir’s goals and their goalkeeping unit, which saved 40% of the shots they faced. Algeria relied too much on individual play and turned the ball over too many times.

As Þórhallsdóttir and Gudrún Traustadóttir combined for 17 goals, Iceland jumped to a 33:23 win and won the group, while Algeria finished second on four points.

Guinea also finished third in the group, clinching their maiden win against the United States of America. Maggie Doherty Dahllof was once again USA’s top scorer, with seven goals, but she could not weather the storm and prevent another loss for the American team.

USA scored a single goal in the last 17 minutes, with Guinea finishing third in the group and taking their maiden win at China 2026, as Aissatou Diallo scored seven goals for Guinea.

Group IV
Tunisia v Faroe Islands 29:25 (15:10)
Chinese Taipei v Croatia 16:33 (9:18)
 
The most balanced situation was recorded in Group IV, where three teams ended on four points, prompting a tie-breaker between them. And it was Croatia (+10 goal difference) which was better than the Faroe Islands (-3) and Tunisia (-7) in the three-way tie, with all teams on two points.

Tunisia had everything to play for and even were closer of heading to the Placement Matches 21/24, while winning by eight goals in the second half, as they took advantage of Faroe Islands’ plethora of turnovers.

Faroe had a better shooting efficiency (61%) than Tunisia (58%), but they turned the ball over 19 times – six times more than Tunisia – with those errors coming in crucial moments of the match.

Close to the end of the match, Faroe cut the eight-goal gap to only four goals, but some key missed shots sealed the deal for Tunisia, where Nour Ouni had eight goals and four assists.

Croatia did not have any issues against the Chinese Taipei, clinching their third win in a row and, once again, lamenting the loss against the Faroe Islands, by a single goal, in the preliminary round, which kicked them out from the main round.

Goalkeeper Marta Turkalj had 10 saves for a 71% saving efficiency, as the Chinese Taipei scored in single digits in each half,  with Croatia securing the crucial win which saw them finish first in the group.