Egypt target historic Under-18 World Championship bronze after Spain defeat

Egypt’s Under-18 women’s handball team will play for third place at the Women’s Handball World Championship on Sunday after suffering a narrow semi-final defeat by Spain.

Spain prevailed in an epic contest by a single goal, ending Egypt’s hopes of reaching the final but leaving them with the opportunity to secure their best-ever finish in the competition.

Egypt will face the losers of the semi-final between Denmark and Montenegro in the third-place play-off. Spain, meanwhile, will meet the winner of that match in the final.

The match on Sunday will determine whether Egypt finish among the world’s top four teams in the Under-18 women’s competition. Their previous best performance came at the 2022 edition in North Macedonia, where they finished seventh.

Egypt had reached the semi-finals after an impressive run through the main round, finishing top of their group with a perfect record.

They began that stage with a 27-24 victory over Croatia, before beating France 29-24. Egypt then recorded their biggest win of the tournament by defeating Fiji 83-17.

A dramatic 29-28 comeback victory against South Korea followed, before Egypt completed their main-round campaign with a 23-22 win over Denmark.

The results established Egypt as one of the leading teams in the tournament and set up their semi-final against Spain. Despite the narrow defeat, the team remains in contention for a place on the podium and a landmark finish at world level.

Egypt’s squad for the tournament is:

Goalkeepers: Jana Ahmed, Gedaa Salama, Retag Mohamed

Left wing: Joureyia Tamer, Mai Sherif

Left back: Judy Metwally, Sondos Essam, Farah Farag

Centre back: Mirna Ashraf, Reem Ehab, Yasmin Hassan

Right back: Malak Amr, Mariam Salah, Habiba Mahmoud

Right wing: Malak Khamis, Farida Abou El Magd

Pivot: Zeina Amr, Zeina Mahmoud