Spain equaled its best finish in men's handball Saturday, taking bronze with a 33-31 win over Egypt.
Eight years after winning the world championship on home soil, Spain finally picked up its first Olympic medal since 2008, capping a series of tight games that included one-point wins over Germany and Norway in group play and another one-goal win against Sweden in the quarterfinals. Denmark beat Spain 27-23 in the semifinals.
Spain led 19-16 at the half but never led by that many again. Egypt got its first tie at 21-21 and never got the lead but kept moving back into a tie, with the latest at 28-28 with six minutes to play.
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Egypt finally fell behind by two after that but cut it to one once again with 34 seconds to play. Needing a turnover to tie, Egypt instead conceded a goal to Raul Entrerrios with seven seconds left, icing the game for Spain.
Aleix Gomez led Spain with eight goals.
