African vice-champions Rwanda wrote history in the Varaždin Arena, throwing off the President’s Cup Group I with their maiden win at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, a true nail-biter against Morocco (33:32).
Morocco vs Rwanda
Having won two days ago against New Zealand, their first win at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship since 2007, Morocco were eyeing to double down on the result against a fellow African side, Rwanda, with another win seeing them with a chance to feature in the Placement Matches 17-20.
Rwanda had previously conceded three losses and were searching for their first win in history in the world handball flagship competition. Therefore their incentive was big, and they did deliver a better start, taking an 11:9 lead after only 14 minutes in what proved to be a very fast-paced game.
However, Morocco managed to slow down the rhythm, and it was the right bet to make for the African team, as their pair of backs, Noam Bernard El Ouadrhiri and Abdellah Razgui, combined for nine goals to turn the game on its head.
A 6:2 run spurred by El Ouadrhiri and Razgui was crucial for Morocco to take back the lead and enter the break with a 17:16 lead, which applied more pressure on the inexperienced Rwanda side, which still dreamt about their first win.
But Morocco failed to get their team going at the start of the second half, which enabled Rwanda to get back into the lead, courtesy of an excellent performance from wing Yves Kayijama, who finished the match with eight goals, helping open a two-goal gap (27:25), with 12 minutes to go in the match.
But it was right-handed right wing Andre Akayezu who helped Rwanda the most, scoring six goals from difficult positions, including three of the last four goals for his side, to help Rwanda seal their maiden win in history (33:32), after a nail-biting finish, which saw Morocco left reeling.
With their first win at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, Rwanda will now hope to earn a better finish, especially as they will be favoured against New Zealand in Tuesday’s game. At the same time, Morocco face Algeria in another crunch clash.
hummel Player of the Match: Andre Akayezu (Rwanda)
Another hard-fought clash saw Montenegro edge a win against Mexico (28:27), with the latter side being close to securing their first win in history, too, after they led until the 50th minute.
Sweden secured the best start for any team in the President’s Cup, creating one of their highest wins in history at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship (50:17) against the United States of America, confirming their status as the team to beat in this part of the competition.
In Group II, Japan dominated Bahrain in an all-Asian clash (33:21), complicating the maths in the group by taking their first win at Croatia 2023, improving their chances of a better placement at the end.