Vektor

In other words: I have nothing against Russian and Belarussian athletes competing in Paris2024 if they don't support the war... as long as they would like to compete for us.

Here's a solution: allow Russian and Belorussian athletes to change their nationality and complete under the flag of any other nation without the current strict nation changing rules. With the added notion that they can't easily go back to being Russian athletes once the ban on their country is over. If they don't agree with the action of their country, allow them to leave their country for good, in an easy way that they can compete in 2024. No neutrality bullshit where Russia can spin it in a way that they are still Russian. They won't be Russian if you see a flag of some other nation next to their name. This would be a much bigger humiliation than the ban or the neutrality, seeing their best talent flee their country and leaving their failed state behind.

If everything goes as expected, these seem like the likeliest OQT groups at the moment: Tournament 1 World 2 World 7 Asia America Tournament 2 World 3 World 6 Africa 1 Europe 2 Tournament 3 World 4 World 5 Europe 1 Africa 2 This assumes that the direct qualifiers would be

This is the most predictable World Championships ever. has truly become the standard Top4 of men's handball in recent years.

No chance against Denmark, as it was expected. We are lucky to be here.

Another Russian wrestler will compete under the Hungarian flag, this time the wrestler is of Hungarian descent. Stalvira Orshush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalvira_Orshush

So the WCh continues to be very predictable. We got the QF pairings that everyone should have expected before the tournament. Hungary being there instead of Iceland is the only tiny surprise, but that was always the least predictable spot in the Top8. Let's see if we get any surprises or the Final Four will be... v v

It's not likely, but Iceland can always surprise.

Anyway, with the way that matches are going, if Croatia draws against Bahrein, they would be 10th. It would be really funny if they would deliberately do that just so they could get the easier road to Paris. 5D chess to qualify.

10th can be very lucky, but it's also very risky. There are a number of ways this can go wrong for the 10th placed team. Like Egypt winning the World Championships or playing the final against France. Or a team taking the European quota that isn't among the OQT nations. Or Egypt having a terrible day at the African qualification tournament and losing the African quota against Cape Verde. I know that these aren't the most likely outcomes, but you can never know how this will go.

@OlympicIRL it's been a bit quiet, which I assume is a good thing as it should mean that we already got a host? Is ready to host the Annual contest?

So we are getting... v / v / v / v / If Denmark avoids Sweden by beating Egypt, we can have the most predictable Final Four: France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark. France, Spain and Denmark are the most consistent teams of the last few years and Sweden is at home and quite strong. I think it's up to Egypt to stop this trend today, they really need at least one point against Denmark. There's a world of difference between getting Sweden or us in the QF.

The funny thing is, I wouldn't be surprised if Iceland or Portugal will be one of the teams that we have to face at the OQT. They are the frontrunners for those ECh OQT spots. We are destined to meet them again and again and again...

Least earned Top8 placement ever for us, but sometimes you have to get lucky in sport. I still kinda doubt that we will qualify to Paris, but at least we will be at the OQT.

Okay, the Sweden that we know has arrived to the arena in the second half, now it's an actual challenge for Portugal to qualify.

Sweden clearly doesn't care about this match based on how they are playing so far, I would be surprised if we go through. This match feels like a very friendly draw.

@Belle You will have a lot of supporters outside of your country tomorrow. The frontpage of the Hungarian National Sport with the headline: "Go Sweden!"

As far as I can tell the teams most likely to finish 9th and 10th are and right? That way is the how the OQT spots will likely go... - host - should be a direct qualifier from Africa ( or ) - one of them gets the WCh quota, another of them wins the ECh quota next year, rest go to QQT - last two OQT spots goes to them if four Top8 teams directly qualify to the Games Now watch Egypt "mess this up" by stealing the WCh quota from Europe. In that case two African teams would directly qualify to the Games, probably Egypt and Cape Verde.

Not much suspense left for the final round and almost everything has been very predictable so far. already qualified as it was expected since the start of the tournament. will very likely join them unless a miracle happens. So the only question left is this: or . But that will be decided by a Swedish team who have nothing to lose or gain from that match. The Swedish coach already declared that he will rest his players against Portugal. So yeah. The only reason I think we still have a chance is because Sweden is at home, so they might still try to win that match, even if some key players will rest. Anyway, this has been a very boring World Championships so far for the most part, the real event won't start until the QFs.

This Swedish team can beat Portugal even if they rest players. But I won't be angry at them if they lose, we obviously don't deserve the Top8 over Portugal.

Christ almighty, we made this much harder than it should have been. Now it's on to Sweden to help us by beating Iceland and Portugal.

Hungarian handball in a nutshell.

If our Olympic hopes die today against I hope everyone just resigns. There's no point going on if we can't even finish inside the Top12.

Oh come on, you can't play perfectly for 100% of the match, you are doing as well as you possibly could. There was never even a moment of doubt that Sweden had this in bag. Now please don't throw away your match against Portugal to rest your players in the final round before the QF, that would be quite bad for us.

No chance whatsoever against Sweden, our only hope is that they will fall asleep in the second half.