France win handball semi-final, street-fighter style

By Sophie Hardach

BEIJING (Reuters) - Handball powerhouse France beat Croatia 25-23 in the Olympics semi-finals on Friday, staying true to predictions of a "street battle" with mid-air collisions and violent tumbles.

France narrowly pulled ahead in the first half thanks to top scorer Cedric Burdet, who slammed in two spectacular goals in a row in the space of two minutes, as well as left wing Olivier Girault, left back Nikola Karabatic and right wing Luc Abalo.

But a tit-for-tat exchange of goals between the two sides kept spectators guessing about the likely finalist until the very last minute.

"It was a defensive game, we just made more stops than the other side. We're very closely matched, each time we play, one time we win, the next time they win," Girault told reporters after the match. "It's always a tough match with Croatia."

The game was typically rough-and-tumble. In the first half, centre-back Bertrand Gille collided with Croatia's Blazenko Lackovic and crashed to the floor while Croatian left back Tonci Valcic clashed with Girault and limped off the pitch.

In the second half, Abalo went down after a collision with Croatia's Goran Sprem, but managed to get up, play on and score two goals. Centre back Daniel Narcisse hammered the Croatian goal six times in the second half.

French coach Clauda Onesta said in the days before the match that a game against Croatia was always a tough fight and that he expected it to be a street battle.

Spain play Iceland in the second semi-final later on Friday. The final is on Sunday.

(Additional reporting by Ken Wills; editing by Jeremy Laurence)