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For Uwe Gensheimer, the game against Argentina was a short one (archive picture)
Photo: GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS
Germany's handball captain Uwe Gensheimer had certainly imagined his 200th international match differently from a personal perspective.
As a team, the DHB team celebrated their first success after the narrow opening defeat against Spain: With 33:25 (14:13), the German selection prevailed against Argentina and won their second preliminary round at the Olympic Games.
Difficulties in the offensive let fear another disappointment in the first half.
The Argentine outsider temporarily pulled away to 7: 4 before the German team caught up and went into the break with a narrow margin.
In the second half, the team of national coach Alfred Gíslason got stronger.
The throws fell in the front, especially the outside players Timo Kastening and Marcel Schiller convinced with seven goals each.
On the defensive, Andreas Wolff found increasingly better in the game, so that the German team was gradually able to pull away.
Only old star Gensheimer experienced a brief, disappointing appearance: when he came on for a seven-meter substitute, he hit Argentina's goalkeeper Juan Bar in the head, the rules stipulate an immediate dismissal for such actions.
Gensheimer consequently saw the red card, which means exclusion until the end of the game.
The next German opponent in Group A is France on Wednesday.
The record world champion came with a 34:29 against Brazil to the second success in the second tournament game.
cev / dpa