1997 World Men's Handball Championship
The 1997 World Men's Handball Championship was the 15th team handball World Championship. It was held in Kumamoto, Japan and was the first World Championship not played in a European country. Russia won the championship.
Venues
The organizing committee used four venues to host the 1997 World Men's Handball Championship:- Group A: Park Dome Kumamoto
- Group B: Kumamoto City Gym
- Group C: Yamaga City Gym
- Group D: Yatsushiro City Gym
Preliminary round
The top 4 placed teams of each group continues to the knockout stage. The teams are ranked through the following rules.- Team with the most points.
- If two teams get the same points, the winner in the game between the two teams get ranked first.
- If the game between the teams ended in a draw, the team with the best goal difference get ranked first.
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Final round
Round of 16
----Quarter-finals
----Placement matches
----5th place match
----Semi-finals
----Final standings
All Star Team
- Goalkeeper: Mats Olsson
- Left Wing: Valery Gopin
- Left Back: Vasily Kudinov
- Center Back: Talant Duyshebaev
- Pivot: Guéric Kervadec
- Right Back: Staffan Olsson
- Right Wing: Valdimar Grímsson