CAIRO — Egypt, Hungary, Spain and Norway extended their winning streaks at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, Egypt 2025 to three matches, locking in the first place in their groups of the preliminary round and ensuring they start the main round with two points.
Down four goals at the break, Egypt stunned Japan with a fantastic comeback in the second half, outscoring their opponents by 12 goals to secure a 36:28 win. Norway and Spain hit over 40 goals against France and Serbia, while Hungary dished a 39:29 win against Switzerland.
Egypt 36:28 Japan
Winning the first two matches at the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship was enough for hosts Egypt to clinch their main round spot. But starting the next phase with two points was only going to be achieved if they beat Japan, in the last match of Group G in Cairo, in the battle between the African and the Asian champions.
Egypt looked to play the favourites part, as they always performed better under pressure, with their clinical speed causing issues to all their opponents.
While Japan’s attack really looked strong, this time it was the goalkeeping department which really propelled the Asian side to a four-goal lead at the break. As Egypt started the match better and dictated the tempo, Kodai Yasumizu’s saves kept Japan in the match and from a 9:7 lead for Egypt, this quickly turned into a 16:12 Japan lead.
How did that happen? Yasumizu finished the first half with 10 saves and a 43 per cent saving efficiency, while Egypt’s goalkeepers, Youssef Abdelhady and Omar Elzamayan, had only two saves between them, for a 10 per cent saving efficiency. And when Egypt’s attack was slowly stopped by Yasumizu, the attack pounced.
A 4:0 run for Japan, part of that 9:3 larger run in the middle of the first half, proved to be decisive, as the MVP of the 2024 AHF Asian Men’s Youth Championship, centre back Masato Ohashi, scored four goals, and dictated the tempo.
By the end of the first half, Japan had a four-goal lead, 18:14, and everything was in play, with Japan now firmly in contention for a win, which would have definitely changed the outlook of this competition, where Egypt was in with a chance for a medal.
The odds were definitely stacked against the hosts, but one thing Egypt had in abundance was the depth, which helped them secure their previous wins. And that was on display once again, when Egypt used a 4:1 run to tie the score fast, 23:23, with 17 minutes left on the clock, as their goalkeeper, Youssef Abdelhady, started to make more saves.
And left-wing Omar Baraka shrugged off a slow start to reach nine goals with 10 minutes left in the match, as Egypt finally wrestled the lead back, 25:24, with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Was that enough for Egypt to finally get the win secured, backed by thousands of rapturous fans? It definitely was, as Japan’s attack crumbled, and scored only three goals between the 48th minute and the end of the match, when Egypt went on a 11:2 run, including a 9:0 unanswered one which proved to be the pivotal moment of the match.
Left back Adel Eletter scored six goals in the match, one less than Baraka, while Abdelrahman Aly added six goals, to eventually lift Egypt to a clear 36:28 win, which delivered a fantastic comeback, down four goals at the break.
Egypt will now head to Group IV of the main round with two points, tied with Denmark, facing Czechia and the Scandinavian side. Japan will start with zero points, as many as Czechia, and with slim chances, needing two surprising wins to progress.
