The Norwegians survived a late rally from their opponents to hold on for victory and move level on points with France, 32-24 winners against Croatia earlier in the day, at the top of the main round’s Group I.

Karol Bielecki, celebrating his 36th birthday today, scored 10 goals in vain for Poland as the collective effort of Norway, led by man of the match Espen Lie Hansen with eight, prevailed at the end of a thrilling encounter.

Poland now trail France and Norway by two points with matches against Belarus and Croatia still to come.

Defending champions France were inspired to their victory by goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer, who amassed 16 saves and also scored his second career goal in what was his 330th international.

The French captain, whose brightest moment came two minutes before the end as he found the net with a shot right across the court, also received the player of the match award.

"I haven't scored a lot of goals in my career," he said.

"Even though I have tried many a time.

"I have to admit that I was a little bit lucky with this one."

Luc Abalo led the French scoring list with six goals, while Croatia, who can no longer qualify for the semi-finals, were led by Domagoj Duvnjak with five.

Action is scheduled to continue tomorrow at the Hala Stulecia in Wrocław where Germany take on Russia and Spain go up against Denmark in the second round of Group II matches.

The winners of the tournament will clinch a qualifying place at this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

At the Asian Men’s Handball Championship, Saudi Arabia secured their place in the semi-finals, despite suffering a 25-24 defeat at the hands of hosts Bahrain, who completed a perfect campaign in Group B.

The United Arab of Emirates could have qualified on goal difference had they beaten Iran by a sizeable margin, but they lost 34-32.

The other game in the group saw Lebanon pick up their first victory of the competition, beating winless China 30-28.  

The final round of Group A matches are due to take place tomorrow as Qatar, Japan and South Korea battle it out for the two semi-final spots on offer.

Qatar need only a draw against South Korea to ensure their qualification, while the Koreans must better the result of Japan who face winless Syria.

There were also six games at the African Men’s Handball Championship today as hosts Egypt advanced to the quarter-finals from Group A with a 30-20 triumph against Cameroon in Cairo.

Morocco suffered their first defeat, losing 27-22 against Algeria, and Nigeria got off the mark by beating Gabon 31-30.

Tunisia thrashed Kenya 53-15 in Group B to ease into the last eight with three wins out of three.

Angola also progressed after edging Congo 28-26

Libya fell to a third-straight loss,  however, going down 20-19 against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

All 12 teams are next scheduled to compete on Monday (January 25) following a rest day tomorrow.