The Icelandic men’s handball team earned the right to compete at the Beijing Olympics in playoffs held in Poland this past weekend. Iceland and Poland move through to the Olympics, whereas Argentina and Sweden do not.
There was much drama in Wroclaw, Poland last weekend. The Icelandic team started off by easily beating Argentina, 36 to 27. Argentina was thought to have the weakest team in the playoffs and was not likely to present an obstacle for the Icelandic team, which indeed turned out to be the case. Morgunbladid reports.
The following match was against Poland and the Icelandic team had a fairly good chance of winning, as it has seldom lost a match against the Poles. However, predictions proved unfounded and the Icelandic team never stood a chance. The final score was 28 to 34.
Iceland met Sweden in the last match. Icelanders have a long history of losing against Sweden in handball and media predictions were not optimistic. The game marked the final battle for a chance at the Olympics, since both teams had beat Argentina yet neither had won against Poland. The Icelandic team managed to pull itself together and beat the Swedes 29 to 25, thereby earning the right to compete in Beijing.
