The runners-up of the first edition of the IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship, Egypt, dug deep, but eventually sealed a 2:0 win to start the 3rd edition of the competition with a win against Chile.

GROUP B
Egypt vs Chile 2:0 (10:8; 8:7)

The runners-up of the previous edition of the world wheelchair handball flagship competition, Egypt, were aiming high once again on their home court, in the Dr Hassan Moustafa Hall, in the 3rd edition of the IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship, but their opener was harder than they would have imagined.

For the first 10 minutes of the first set, Egypt were constantly trying to avoid conceding a loss, as the South American side delivered a fantastic performance, both in attack and in defence, taking an early lead, 3:1, and trying to stop their opponents.

But Egypt had once again a fantastic player in Magdy Talaat Abdo Abbas, who was one of the top scorers in the previous edition of the competition, as he put seven of Egypt’s 10 points on the board in the first set.

Yet the African side was close to concede a loss, only a point scored by Talaat Abdo Abbas helping Egypt to push the first set into extra-time, as the two teams were tied after 10 minutes, 8:8. Once again, everything relied on Talaat Abdo Abbas, who was found free near the goal after 23 seconds and scored the golden goal, helping Egypt secure the first set, 10:8.

Egypt started the second set in emphatic fashion, taking an early 3:0 lead and everything looked set for the African side to clinch the win, only for Chile to score three unanswered points and tie the score, 3:3, halfway in the second part of the match.

The end of the match was absolutely on a knife’s edge, with Talaat Abdo Abbas, who finished with 12 points, the second largest number of points so far in the competition, being disqualified after conceding his second suspension, which meant that Egypt had a mountain to climb.

Chile led, 7:6, with 10 seconds to go, but the final shot of the match was a two-point one, converted by Touba Magdi Mahmoud Issa, which saw Egypt clinch a 2:0 win, much to the disappointment of Chile, which were left emptyhanded, but will surely create more problems for their other opponents in the next matches.