France battled past Norway in their latest group encounter ©Getty Images

France were forced to dig deep before beating Norway 31-28 in their latest group encounter at the International Handball Federation (IHF) World Championships at the Exponantes-Hall XXL in Nantes today.

The hosts and defending champions led 16-12 at half-time before prevailing in front of a partisan crowd of 10,500.

Nikola Karabatic received the Most Valuable Player award after scoring five times.

It means France continue their unbeaten record in Group A after victories over Japan and Brazil.

Iceland battled back to secure a thrilling 22-22 draw with Tunisia in today's only Group B clash at the Arenes de Metz.

Iceland battled to a valiant draw against Tunisia ©Getty Images
Iceland battled to a valiant draw against Tunisia ©Getty Images

The European side trailed 13-11 at half-time before recovering in a topsy-turvy encounter.

Germany were much more comfortable 35-14 winners over Chile in their Group C encounter at the Kindarena in Rouen.

They now lie joint-top with Croatia.

In Group D, Sweden continued their good start to the tournament at Paris' AccorHotels Arena by defeating Argentina 35-17.

Qatar, runners-up when hosting the tournament in 2015, won 32-22 in the all-Gulf clash with Bahrain.