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Unified Korean team loses last match at handball worlds

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The unified Korean men's handball team celebrates after beating Japan 27-25 at the International Handball Federation World Men's Handball Championship at Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 19. Yonhap
The unified Korean men's handball team celebrates after beating Japan 27-25 at the International Handball Federation World Men's Handball Championship at Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 19. Yonhap

The unified Korean men's handball team has finished third from the bottom in its world championship debut.

Korea fell to Saudi Arabia 27-26 in the 21st-place match at the International Handball Federation (IHF) World Men's Handball Championship at Royal Arena in Copenhagen on Sunday (local time).

The squad of 16 South Koreans and four North Koreans, coached by South Korean Cho Young-shin, ended up in 22nd place among 24 participants.

This was the first international appearance by a joint Korean handball team, men's or women's.

Korea lost all five preliminary matches to fall into the ranking round and captured its historic first win over Japan in the 21st-24th place semifinals on Saturday.

Korea held a 14-13 lead over Saudi Arabia after the first half but lost on a last-second goal by Mojtaba Alsalem.

Kang Jeon-gu led Korea with four goals, while five others chipped in three goals each.

South Korea came into the tournament ranked 19th in the world, while North Korea wasn't ranked.

In the preliminary round, the unified team was in a stacked group, featuring world No. 1 Germany, Russia (world No. 4), France (No. 5), Serbia (No. 6) and Brazil (No. 27). (Yonhap)




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