By Mike Rowbottom

Argentina's Sebastian Simonet was sent off after quarter of an hour of the crucial qualifier with Russia, but his side held on to win 30-27 and claim a place in the last 16 ©Qatar2015Argentina earned the final place in the last 16 knock-out stages at the World Handball Championship in Qatar at the expense of Russia, whom they beat 30-27 despite having Sebastian Simonet sent off after quarter of an hour.


But the Pan-American champions made it clear that their earlier draw against joint top seeds Denmark in Group D had been no fluke as they held on for a result which saw Simonet's brother, Diego, take the adidas man-of-the-match award with six goals.

Argentina, however, will need to maintain their form to the maximum on Monday (January 26) as they face the Olympic and European champions France, who secured the top spot in Group C with a 27-25 win over Sweden in what was a re-run of the London 2012 final.

Meanwhile, home fans are gearing up for tomorrow's first round of knock-out matches in which their side meet Austria in a series of four matches that concludes with defending champions Spain taking on Tunisia.

Thirteen goals from their captain Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson, man-of-the-match, helped Iceland secure qualification with a 28-25 win over Egypt in front of 5,500 in Doha's Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena.

Egypt and Iceland meet up before their final qualifier at the Qatar World Handball Championships. Thirteen goals from Iceland's captain Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson saw his side through to a 28-25 win and a place in the last 16 ©Qatar2015Egypt and Iceland meet up before their final qualifier at the Qatar World Handball Championships. Thirteen goals from Iceland's captain Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson saw his side through to a 28-25 win and a place in the last 16 ©Qatar2015


That result meant the Czech Republic's 36-20 win over bottom team Algeria, the African champions, was in vain.

It also meant Egypt, who dropped from third to fourth in Group C, will now meet the winners of Group D, Germany, who were secure at the head of the standings whatever their result today, but who earned a 36-19 win over bottom team Saudi Arabia.

Iceland will now meet Denmark, who beat Poland 31-27 in their final Group D match to finish second.

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