The Spaniards, who finished as runners-up at the last tournament in Poland, seemed to be feeling confident at the start and were 2-1 up inside four minutes in front of 4,176 spectators at the Varaždin Arena.

Unfancied Slovenia, however, then found the back of the net four times without reply at the Croatian venue to make it 5-2 after nine minutes.

Spain seemed to recover towards the end of the first half and were 12-11 up just two minutes before the break only for Borut Mačkovšek to score two goals to give his side a 13-12 lead at the end of the first half.

Slovenia then took this confidence into the second half and never relinquished their lead, eventually coming out convincing 31-26 winners.

The final match of the day saw the Czech Republic recover from a half-time deficit of 13-11 against Macedonia to win 25-24 thanks to Stanislav Kasparek's last minute winner.

Despite their win today, Slovenia still risk being eliminated from the tournament and need to beat Czech Republic tomorrow (January 24) to give themselves a fighting chance of getting out of the main round group.

Spain are still second in the table on four points but they will have to get a positive result against defending champions Germany, who are just behind them in third, tomorrow to ensure they book their place in the semi-final.

The Asian Men's Handball Championship also continued in Suwon, South Korea, with the hosts beating Iran 28-25 at the Suwon Gymnasium.

The other match in Group One of the main round draw saw Saudi Arabia defeat Oman 26-20.

These results mean that South Korea and Saudi Arabia have both qualified for the quarter-finals, although the group winner and top seeding will be decided when they face each other tomorrow.

The loser will have to face defending champions Qatar, who won Group Two by defeating Bahrain 29-21 in the first knock-out round.

The second place in Group Two will go to either Bahrain or Japan, who defeated United Arab Emirates 27-20.

Those two sides will face each other in an all-or-nothing match tomorrow, with the winner going through to the quarter-finals whilst the loser will be forced to compete in the placement round.

Today's placement round fixtures saw India qualify from Group Three with a 38-24 win over tournament whipping boys New Zealand.

China defeated Bangladesh 35-10 in their Group Four match, meaning they also qualify for the next round.

There were no matches at the African Men's Handball Championship today.