Hungary defeated Greece 26-22 after scores were tied at halftime (12-12) and finished second in Group B of the men's handball preliminaries, setting to play South Korea in the quarterfinals on August 24.

Greece finished fourth in the group and will now play against the 2003 world champion Croatia for a place in the semifinals.

"It was a very good match and a technical battle," Laszlo Scaliczky, coach of the Hungarian team told reporters. "Both teams knew the way its opponent played. "

Talking about the next opponent, Scaliczky said, "South Korea plays a different kind of handball. It is very fast and we have to be as much prepared as it is possible for the match."

Laszlo Nagy, Hungary's right back, described their performance as one of the best.

"This was one of our best games because we had a balance between our offence and our defence, which we didn't have in other games," he said.

"We have trained a lot the last couple of days and it helped a lot," he added.

Hungary made a good start at the first half, taking a three goal lead by the 11th minute. When Balazs Laluska of Hungary was then suspended for two minutes, Greece took advantage and equalized with Enagelos Voglis scoring three consecutive goals.

Hungary made a good start, again, at the second half, taking a lead which they kept until the end of the match.

Ulf Hakan Schefvert, coach of Greece, offered his congratulations to the Hungarians.

"Hungary deserves congratulations," he said. "It was much better than us in the second half."

He regretted the mistakes his team made, especially in the second half.

"We gave away the ball many times and we did not have the opportunity to organize in a proper way in order to make good shoots on offence," he said. "That is not permitted at such high level."