No major surprises in the end, although Brazil almost scored a big win against the defending champions. Here‘s a quick summary of day 3:

[b]Group A: [/b] France took 2 points into the Main Round with a narrow 28-26 victory over Croatia. Kazakhstan beat Argentina 26-22 in a battle for 3rd place and seeding in the consolation President’s Cup.

[b]Group B: [/b] A gallant effort by Brazil resulted in a draw match vs. Russia. Brazil needed a 4 goal victory in order to advance and at several points in the match they pressed the lead to 5 goals, but Russia kept coming back. With five minutes left Brazil led 30-27, but Russia rallied yet again for the final score of 31-31. As a result of their earlier loss to Macedonia, the surprise team from the last Championship will now do no better than 13th place. Macedonia took care of Australia 30-13, but the team from down under actually were leading 9-6 after 24 minutes until the wheels fell off and Macedonia asserted themselves. Games are 60 minutes long, but this first half performance should give the Aussies a little bit of confidence as they head in to the President’s Cup.

[b]Group C: [/b]Norway punched Austria’s ticket to the President’s cup with a convincing 33-20 win. Angola sealed their status as the surprise team with a 41-20 victory over the Dominican Republic.

[b]Group D: [/b]Romania took 2 points to the Main Round with a 38-33 win over Poland. China, which challenged Romania in its opener continued its downward slide losing to Tunisia, 30-27. Tunisia will play for 13th place and China can do no better than 19th.

[b]Group E:[/b] Hungary and Spain played to a 26-26 draw, so both teams will take 1 point into the Main Round. Congo beat Japan 32-28, making that 2 victories for the African continent over Asia.

[b]Group F: [/b] Germany took 2 points into the Main Round with a 32-26 victory over South Korea. Ukraine easily beat Paraguay 43-17 to take 3rd place in Group F

[b]Main Round Groups and Standing (Points and GD after 1 Match)
Group I: [/b]
Norway 2 +6
Russia 2 +5
France 2 +2
Croatia 0 -2
Macedonia 0 -5
Angola 0 -6

[b]Group II: [/b]
Germany 2 +6
Romania 2 +5
Hungary 1 0
Spain 1 0
Poland 0 -5
South Korea 0 -6

[b]President’s Cup: 13th Place Brackets[/b]
Group I: Kazakhstan, Brazil, Austria
Group II: Tunisia, Congo, Ukraine

[b]President’s Cup: 19th Place Brackets[/b]
Group I: Argentina, Australia, Dominican Republic
Group II: China, Japan, Paraguay