Coach: Assem Mahmoud Hammad Aly
Key Players: Nour Khaled Gaber (Left Back), Mohamed Essam Moustafa (Goalkeeper)
Road to Qualification: Winners – 2014 African Men’s Youth Handball Championship
History in Tournament: 2005: 6th, 2007: 5th, 2009: 12th, 2011: 5th, 2013: 14th
Overview:
Egypt qualified for the 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship as champions of the African Men’s Youth Handball Championship in 2014. The 2014 win was their fifth title in six editions of the continental competition.
The debut African Men’s Youth Handball Championship was won by Benin in 2000, with Egypt failing to finish with a medal. But that was the only time Egypt would walk away empty-handed – in every edition of the championship held since that year Egypt have won the gold medal (2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014), demonstrating just how dominant the nation are in this age category in their continent. In the 2014 final they defeated Algeria, who will also participate at Russia 2015, 26:22, to book their ticket to the World Championship.
Their record at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship is strong – three times they have finished in the top ten: sixth in the first tournament held in 2005, and fifth in 2007 and 2011. Their result at the 2013 championship in Hungary, where they finished 14th, was their lowest final ranking so far.
The Egypt junior team have just pulled off a spectacular performance at the 2015 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship held in Brazil, qualifying for the semi-final stage after knocking out seemingly unbeatable Sweden in the Quarter-Final. Many coaches noted at Brazil 2015 how the level of teams is equalising, and now it is no longer a surprise when a squad from Africa, Pan-America or Asia defeats a European side – can the Egypt youth team prove them right in Russia?
Group at Russia 2015:
Group B: Spain, Norway, Germany, Egypt, Iceland and Venezuela
Games at Russia 2015:
All times local
Saturday 8 August: ESP-EGY (16:00)
Sunday 9 August: EGY-NOR (16:00)
Tuesday 11 August: EGY-ISL (14:00)
Wednesday 12 August: VEN-EGY (20:00)
Friday 14 August: GER-EGY (12:00)