Korea - FYR Macedonia 31:32 (14:14)
FYR Macedonia's Kiril Lazarow went down in WCh history, heading the ranking as the
top goal scorer in a WCh tournament ahead of Korea's Kyung Shin Yoon. He added another
15 goals in the match with Korea to increase his account to 92 WCh goals in 9 matches
in Croatia. At the 1995 WCh Yoon had scored 86 goals. Nevertheless Macedonia did
not manage to break away while Korea fighting bravely but only took the lead once
during the match (24:23). All 60 minutes were well balanced. Korea's keeper Ilkoo
Kang showed a good performance and the Korean defence was well set up. Lazarov and
pivot Goran Gjorgonovski (4 goals) made Macedonia fly high. However, FYR Macedonia's
trouble was that the defence did not get the upper hand on the quick-as-a-flash
Koreans. Jeong and Sim, who scored 13 goals, in particular, played to the gallery.
With one minute to go and the score at 31:31, Stojance Stoilov pushed Macedonia
into the lead and Eunho Lee failed Korea's last opportunity. Thus the Asian side
had to settle with 12th place.
Quotes:
Ile Temelkovski (Coach FYR Macedonia): "Having won this close match makes us very
happy and we are extremely proud of captain Kiril Lazarow. Korea was a real challenge
for us, the match was open until the very last minute. We put all our heart into
the match again and that's what made the difference."
Choi Teasup (Coach Korea): "We gained valuable experience during this WCh tournament
and we will profit from that during the coming WCh. We put every effort into all
the matches and that's why 12th place is a remarkable achievement for us."
Kiril Lazarow (MKD): "I am proud and very happy with 11th place and my goal record.
I would like to thank my teammates who made me achieve this great success. Our great
appearance during this WCh caused a roar of handball enthusiasm in FYR Macedonia.
I think we became the splashy team of the title contests.
Ranking:
11. FYR Macedonia
12. Korea
13. Spain
14. Egypt
15. Romania
16. Russia
17. Tunisia
18. Argentina
19. Algeria
20. Cuba
21. Brazil
22. Kuwait
23. Saudi Arabia
24. Australia