Four former world champs book Olympic places

Former world champions France, Spain, Croatia and Russia booked places for the Beijing Olympics men's handball competition after finishing in the top two in qualification tournaments at the weekend.

Twelve teams battled for six places in tournaments in Paris, Wroclaw and Zadar from Friday to Sunday to join the teams who had already qualified.

Hosts China, world champions Germany, PanAm champions Brazil, European champions Denmark and African champions Egypt were exempted from the weekend's competitions.

Four-times world champions Sweden, who also won three silver Olympic medals from 1992 to 2000, will not go to Beijing after finishing third in Wroclaw's tournament following a 29-25 defeat to Iceland.

Iceland qualified along with Poland, who were runners-up at last year's world championships and snatched a spot with a 28-26 victory against unfancied Argentina.