Sobhy on receiving 2021 World Cup flag: It is a moment of pride

CAIRO – 28 January 2019: Egyptian Youth and Sports Minister, Ashraf Sobhy, and Egyptian Handball Federation President, Hesham Nasr, represented Egypt during the 2019 IHF World Cup Final.

Egypt received the flag of the 2021 IHF World Cup from head of the International Handball Federation, Hassan Mostafa, on Sunday night.
“It is a moment of pride for me and all Egyptians. Denmark and Germany co-hosted the World Cup and we are ready to host the next edition alone,” Sobhy told Sada El Balad on Sunday.

For the first time in history, 32 teams will participate at the IHF World Cup in 2021 instead of 24 teams that have participated in the tournament since 1995 World Cup in Iceland.

Sobhy added, "We are among the best teams in the world. It is our best achievement since 2001 and I have a dream to see our national team at the semi-finals in 2021 at home.”

The Egyptian team has done a massive achievement at the 2019 IHF World Cup and finished the tournament among the best eight teams in the world.

The World Cup draw put Egypt in Group D alongside Sweden, Hungary, Qatar, Argentina and Angola.
The Egyptian team lost their first two games to Sweden and Qatar but they bounced back with two victories over Argentina and Angola; they ended their game against Hungary with a draw to finish third and reach the second round.

Egypt managed to reach the second round for the first time since their best ever achievement when they won the fourth place in 2001.

At the second round, Egypt lost to Norway and Denmark and defeated Arab rivals, Tunisia, to end the second round group at the fourth position; Egypt faced Spain to decide the seventh placed and lost 36-31 to end the competition at the eighth place.