Olympic champion France won the first top game of the handball championship in Hungary and Slovakia after a heated 60 minutes.
The record world champion around top star Nikola Karabatic started the final round with a hard-fought 27:22 (13:11) against vice-European champion Croatia.
Things got hot, especially after the break. The former Melsunger David Mandic even saw the blue card after a foul, which, in contrast to the red card, initiates disciplinary proceedings.
The Croatian can therefore be banned for further games. In the second game of group C, Serbia clearly won 31:23 (17:11) against Ukraine in Szeged.
World champion Denmark started the tournament with a sovereign 30:21 (18:10) against Montenegro. In the other game in Group A, Slovenia, semi-finalists from 2020, had just won 27:25 (13:10) against North Macedonia in Debrecen.
Hungary is defeated by the Netherlands
Vice World Champion Sweden hardly had any problems in the 30:18 (17:11) against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Also in Group E, defending champions Spain had to tremble for a long time.
The European champion of 2018 and 2020 prevailed in Bratislava against the Czech Republic after a long fight with 28:26 (14:11). Co-host Hungary experienced a false start at 28:31 (10:13) against the Netherlands.
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