France after three matches had a full set of victories, while Kazakhstan couldn’t manage to win a single point. So the favorite’s of Saturday’s match could be the only one – France. Les Blues didn’t disappoint and won high (42:17).

The French handballers started nervously which is why the start of the match was balanced. After six minutes of the game players from Kazakhstan lead unexpectedly 4:3. The next five goals was scored by France. Laurent Puigsegur’s team’s greatly improved the defense, so that they could make rapid fastbreakes without major problems.

Kazakhstan team  had huge problems with  finishing the action, which is why the advantage of their rivals continued to grow systematically.

After thirty minutes of play, the French had been winning by eleven goals, and in the second part their lead was even bigger. Representatives of Kazakhstan were sometimes helpless, while their rivals  again showed that they belong to the favorites of the tournament.

FRANCE – KAZAKHSTAN 42:17 (20:9)

France:Portes, Andre – Leblevec 7, Mairot, Louis 5, di Rocco 5, Lasm 1, Wajoka 2, Pora 8, Moore 4, Ouattara 3, Jarrige 2, Dembele 1, Foppa, Jacques 4

Kazakhstan: Aitmagambetova, Zhanibekkyzy – Stepanova 1, Syzdykova 1, Zhaparova 5, Malysheva 2, Murzagul 2, Khamitova 1, Kirillova 2, Karymsak, Pernebek, Seitkassym 2, Iskakova 1

QUOTES 

Laurent Puigsegur, head coach of France: Today I could play with handballers that in previous matches had less time on the field. This match is a history, right now we focus on match with Korea. This result will be crucial, because the winner of this match will be also the winner of the group.

Berik Beknazarov, head coach of Kazakhstan: I am aware that the teams in our group: Korea, France and Spain are well-trained and we know from the start that we don’t have a big chance against them. Our goal is to be in the top twenty, but we know that it will be difficult to achieve this. Our defeat with Tunisia made this aim very difficult. We are in Poland for the first time. Everything is well organized here, but unfortunately we didn’t have the time to know the city better. Three of our very good players had to stay in the country because of serious injuries.

 

Photo credit: PRESSFOCUS/ZPRP

GALLERY