coach Jorn-Uwe Lommel helped Egypt win the men's handball at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Egypt’s coach Uwe Lommel believes his men can beat Germany and reach the main draw of the 2011 World Handball Championship that will be played in Sweden from 13 to 30 January.
“I think we can beat Germany. We have young players and they (the Germans) will be coming after a long and intense season in the league,” Lommel said in a press conference on Sunday.
The Pharaohs were handed a tough draw as they have been paired with France, Spain, Germany, Tunisia and Bahrain in group A.
The top three teams in each group will advance to the main round. The last three teams in each group will play placement matches.
“We made a lot of progress since last September due to our training camps. The problem here is that the local competition doesn’t help produce a high caliber player in contrast to the European leagues where they play under huge stress and rivalry,” the German tactician added.
Egypt will have a last stop in Spain, playing two friendly matches before the Sweden World Championship.
Meanwhile the President of the Egyptian Handball Association (EHA) Hady Fahmy backed the team and reiterated that the Pharaohs are in a transitional period now in order to get back to front of the scene again.
“The team includes 11 young players (out of 18) who have never played in a World Cup. We have to take the risk if we want to rebuild the team,” he said.
“I trust them and I believe they will be able to represent Egypt for the next decade,” the EHA president stated.
Egypt have emerged as a powerhorse of the sport since the end of the 1990s and they were able to finish fourth in the 2001 World Championship in France. They have since been consistently seen as a major force.
But the Pharaohs have suffered a weakening in form over the past few years and failed to regain their place among the World’s top 8.
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