Olympic journey ends for men's handball world champions

(BEIJING, June 2) -- Three tough games in Wroclaw, Poland, ended the Olympic dream of the Swedish men’s handball team, who are three-time Olympic runners-up, two-time World Champions and four-time European Champions.

After playing the Polish to a draw on the first day and defeating the Argentineans on the second, the Swedes needed only a tie to earn a ticket to Beijing in their last match on Sunday, June 1. But they were unable to overcome the team from Iceland.

With the two teams knotted at 13 going into the second half, Iceland played a strong final ten minutes to take the game by a score of 29-25 and send the Swedes home.

In the other match of the day, the Argentineans continued their bad luck in Wroclaw, losing to the Polish 26-28.

In Paris, the French team did not relax despite having already earned their Olympic qualification the day before. They completed their perfect record in the competition with a 28-23 defeat of Norway.

In Zadar, Croatia, the results were more predictable. Croatia beat Algeria 37-26 and Russia defeated Japan 44-31, both with ease. The winners will both compete in Beijing in August.

All 24 handball teams (12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams) that will compete in the Beijing Olympics have now been determined. China, Norway, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, Angola, Germany, Sweden, Romania, Hungary, France and the Republic of Korea will compete on the women’s side; China, Germany, Brazil, Egypt, Denmark, Republic of Korea, Poland, France, Croatia, Iceland and Spain will compete on the men’s side.