Final day to bring awaited answers at the 3rd IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship
20 Sep. 2024

The final day of the 3rd IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship will see the title awarded in the Dr Hassan Moustafa Hall in 6 of October, Egypt, when hosts Egypt take on debutants United States of America in the big final, scheduled for Saturday, 21 September, at 19:00 EEST.
In the bronze medal match, reigning champions, Brazil, which lost the chance to face Egypt once again for the title, face France, in a battle for a place on the podium.
FINAL
- 19:00 EEST United States of America vs Egypt
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
- 17:00 EEST Brazil vs France
PLACEMENT MATCH 5/6
- 15:00 EEST Chile vs Japan
PLACEMENT MATCH 7/8
- 13:00 EEST India vs Portugal
After 20 matches, the 3rd IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship has reached the final day, where the three medallists, as well as the final standings of the competition will be decided.
The big showdown, the match for the title, will see debutants United States of America face Egypt, the runners-up from the 2022 IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship, which have conceded a loss on their way to the gold medal match, but bounced back and clinched two wins on Friday, in the quarter-final against Japan and the semi-final against France.
Undoubtedly, the USA are the surprise package of the competition, a team which did not exist two months ago, riding a four-match winning streak onto the final, including producing arguably the biggest shock of the 2024 IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship, when they secured a 2:1 win against reigning champions Brazil.
USA’s win is even more impressive, as Brazil had never lost a match prior to this one and took a 4:0 win in the first set, only for the American side to bounce back, win the second set, push the third into the shoot-out and eliminate Brazil after each team shot six penalties.
Now, they will be up against a team which has the experience, a never-say-die attitude and are the hosts, being boosted by their fans’ support, which will flock to the Dr Hassan Moustafa Hall in 6 of October to cheer for their fans.
So far, Egypt have scored more points (80) than USA’s 67, and the two sides are well-balanced in terms of points conceded, with USA conceding 64 points, as their opponents have conceded only two more. But Egypt hold the advantage in terms of their shooting percentage (47.4%), with USA scoring only on 37.7% of their attempts.
Yet Egypt have an Achilles’ heel, which can derail their challenge for the title. So far, the African side has won five sets by a single point and three by two points, usually relying on a last-gasp goal to secure the win, which might prove difficult to achieve against a plucky USA side, which relies heavily on defence.
With USA ensuring a medal, it is clear that an objective has already been achieved, but Ford Dyke’s team aims for gold, as the USA coach has already stated before the start of the competition, which has gone pretty well for the USA.
While the final is scheduled for 19:00 EEST, there are still three more matches scheduled, which will decide the final standings of the 3rd IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship. First, the Placement Match 7/8 will see Portugal, which conceded two losses on Friday, face India, with the Placement Match 5/6 following, when Chile take on Japan.
The bronze medal match will see Brazil, which have lost their maiden match in the competition, play against debutants France, which have lost four of the five matches played so far, with their shocking win against Portugal bringing them between the top four sides in the competition.
Brazil, which have the second largest shooting percentage, 53%, but only the fourth largest number of points scored, will be looking to clinch a medal, but a plucky France team, which lost the semi-final against Egypt only after the African side scored the golden goal in the second set, have a fantastic pair in Mathieu De Cillia and Fatih Cuhadar, who combined for 59 of their 68 points in the competition.
The battle for the top scorer title will also be on in the last day, currently led by Japan’s Shinnosuke Monooka, with 61 points, followed by Egypt’s Magdy Talaat Abdo Abbas, with 57 points and Portugal’s Ricardo Queiros, with 52 points.