Iceland freeze out Poland

Beijing: Iceland, the surprise package of the Olympic men's handball tournament, shot to the semifinals after a 32-30 win against Poland yesterday.

Powerhouse France also advanced after beating Russia 27-24, with French centre back Daniel Narcisse doing a somersault after he scored a goal in the last minute.

Iceland's right wing Alexander Petersson, centre back Snorri Steinn Gudjonsson and left wing Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson relentlessly hammered the Polish goal. Even a last-gasp goal by Mariusz Jurasik did not save the day for Poland.

"It was great, I still cannot believe it. We're such a small country and we won against a 40-million-people country," said top scorer Petersson. "Now there's going to be a handball boom in Iceland."

Several Icelandic handballers successfully play for clubs outside their fire-and-ice island, home to only 300,000 people. Back home, few of their compatriots follow their games, preferring to watch football or basketball on television.

"We get about 500 spectators per game," said Iceland right back Olafur Stefansson. "It's understandable, sometimes there's bad weather and you don't want to go driving 20 minutes through the snow when you can watch TV instead."

Russia came back against France in the second half and briefly stood at 21-22, only to see Narcisse and left wing Olivier Girault hammer in three goals in less than ten minutes.