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| Ri Kyong-song, second to left and Kim Dong-myung, right, of the unified Korea team are in action against Thiagus Petrus Santos of Brazil, left, and Thiago Ponciano of Brazil during the match between Brazil and Korea at the IHF Men's Handball World Championship in Berlin, Germany,Thursday. EPA-Yonhap |
The unified Korean men's handball team has been relegated to the ranking round at the ongoing world championship after losing its final preliminary match in Germany.
Korea lost to world No. 27 Brazil 35-26 in its final Group A game at the International Handball Federation (IHF) World Men's Handball Championship at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on Thursday (local time).
The squad of 16 South Koreans and four North Koreans, coached by South Korean Cho Young-shin, finished last in Group A with five straight losses.
It will now face Japan, which finished last in Group B, in the 21st-24th place semifinals on Saturday. Saudi Arabia and Angola are the other teams in the semis. The winners will meet in the 21st-place match, while the losers will play each other in the 23rd-place match, both on Sunday.
These ranking matches will be played in Copenhagen, Denmark, the co-host country, along with Germany.
This is the first international appearance by a joint Korean handball team, men's or women's.
Against Brazil, a 2016 Olympic quarterfinalist, Korea was down 18-10 at halftime and never recovered. Korea went down fighting, as it was only outscored by 17-16 in the second half.
Kang Jeon-gu of South Korea led the unified team with five goals. From the North, Ri Kyong-song and Pak Jong-gon had a goal apiece.
Korea ended up in a stacked group that also features world No. 1 Germany, Russia (world No. 4), France (No. 5) and Brazil (No. 27).
The top three teams from each of the four groups will move on to the main round.(Yonhap)
