The 1997 World Men's Handball Championship was the 15th team handball World Championship. It was held in Kumamoto, Japan and was the first World Championship not played in a European country. Russia won the championship. Qualification Venues The organizing committee used four venues to host the 1997 World Men's Handball Championship: Group A: Park Dome Kumamoto Group B: Kumamoto City Gym Group C: Yamaga City Gym Group D: Yatsushiro City Gym Preliminary round The top 4 placed teams of each group continues to the knockout stage. The teams are ranked through the following rules. Team with the most points (2 points for each won game, 1 point for each drawn game). If two teams get the same points, the winner in the game between the two teams get ranked first. If the game between the teams ended in a draw, the team with the best goal difference get ranked first. Group A Group B Group C Group D Final round Bracket Round of 16 Quarter-finals Placement matches 7th place match 5th place match Semi-finals Bronze final Final Final standings Medalists All Star Team Goalkeeper: Mats Olsson Left Wing: Valery Gopin Left Back: Vasily Kudinov Center Back: Talant Duyshebaev Pivot: Guéric Kervadec Right Back: Staffan Olsson Right Wing: Valdimar Grímsson References External links Official report WC97 by todor66 World Handball Championship tournaments Handball International handball competitions hosted by Japan Handball May 1997 sports events in Asia June 1997 sports events in Asia Sport in Kumamoto Prefecture