Holders France beat Norway today to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Men's Youth World Handball Championship in Skopje ©WCH 2019

Holders France beat Norway today to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Men's Youth World Handball Championship in Skopje.

Sadou Ntanzi and Antoine Tissot played an influential role in the 33-28 win, tallying seven goals apiece at the Jane Sandanski Arena.

Awaiting the French in the last eight are Portugal, who defeated hosts North Macedonia 29-25 at the Boris Trajkovski Sports Center.

Among the other teams through to the quarter-finals are 2017 silver medallists Spain after they edged Sweden 28-27.

Standing between them and a place in the penultimate round are 2017 bronze medallists Denmark, 30-25 winners over Tunisia.

Denmark continued their unbeaten run with a 30-25 win over Tunisia ©WCH 2019/Filip Viranovski
Denmark continued their unbeaten run with a 30-25 win over Tunisia ©WCH 2019/Filip Viranovski

The two other last-eight ties pit Egypt against Iceland and Hungary against Germany.

Egypt overcame Slovenia 30-23, while Iceland claimed a 39-34 victory over Japan.

Hungary defeated previously unbeaten Croatia with a 27-23 triumph following Germany's 33-25 success at the expense of Argentina.

All four quarter-finals are due to take place tomorrow.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday (August 17) before the medal matches take centre stage on Sunday (August 18).