The 1997

World Men's Handball Championship The IHF Men's Handball World Championship has been organized indoor by the International Handball Federation since 1938. In the twenty-seven tournaments held, eleven nations have won the title. France is the most successful team with six titl ...

was the 15th

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

World Championship. It was held in

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and was the first World Championship not played in a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an country.

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

won the championship.

Qualification

Venues

The organizing committee used four venues to host the 1997 World Men's Handball Championship: * Group A: Park Dome

* Group B:

City Gym * Group C: Yamaga City Gym * Group D:

Yatsushiro is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Geography Located at the geographic center of Kyushu, Yatsushiro City is situated on the aptly named Yatsushiro Sea in between Kumamoto and Ashikita City. Climate Yatsushiro has a humid subtro ...

City Gym

Preliminary round

The top 4 placed teams of each group continues to the knockout stage. The teams are ranked through the following rules. #Team with the most points (2 points for each won game, 1 point for each drawn game). #If two teams get the same points, the winner in the game between the two teams get ranked first. #If the game between the teams ended in a draw, the team with the best goal difference get ranked first.

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Final round

Bracket

Round of 16

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Quarter-finals

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Placement matches

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7th place match

5th place match

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Semi-finals

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Bronze final

Final

Final standings

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

Medalists

All Star Team

* Goalkeeper: Mats Olsson * Left Wing:

Valery Gopin Valery Pavlovich Gopin (russian: Валерий Павлович Гопин, born 8 May 1964) is a Russian handball player. He became Olympic champion in 1988 with the Soviet Union national handball team, and in 1992 File:1992 Events Collage ...

* Left Back:

Vasily Kudinov Vasily Kudinov (17 February 1969 – 11 February 2017) was a Russian handball player, born in Ilyinka, Astrakhan Oblast, Russian SFSR. He participated in three Olympics, winning two gold medals and one bronze medal. At the 1992 Summer Olympics ...

* Center Back:

Talant Duyshebaev Talant Mushanbetovich Dujshebaev (russian: Талант Мушанбетович Дуйшебаев; born 2 June 1968) is a former handball player who successively played for 4 national teams: Soviet Union, Unified Team, Russia and Spain final ...

* Pivot: Guéric Kervadec * Right Back:

Staffan Olsson Erik Staffan Olsson (born 26 March 1964) is a Swedish handball coach and former player. Olsson, who always played with no 13, was a left-handed right backcourt player with one of the most feared shots of all the elite players. Later in his care ...

* Right Wing:

Valdimar Grímsson Valdimar Grímsson (born 5 December 1965) is an Icelandic former handball player who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially ...

References

External links

Official report
{{World Handball Championship World Handball Championship tournaments Handball International handball competitions hosted by Japan Handball May 1997 sports events in Asia June 1997 sports events in Asia Sport in Kumamoto Prefecture