Germany, Spain draw

The match of the tournament could have been played in the championship opener as reigning champions Germany and world champions Spain fought out an exhilarating 31-31 draw. Spain dominated the match early on, rushing into a 5-0 lead before Germany began to find their rhythm.

Germany's first goal came in the sixth minute through Andrei Klimovets, which proved to be their catalyst as they went in at half-time 15-16 down. The second half was equally dramatic as both sides exchanged the lead before Germany raced into a 30-27 lead with four minutes remaining.

David Davis and Juan Garcia saved the world champions by bring the scores level at 31-31 at the final whistle.

Group rivals France had no problems swiping aside debutants Slovakia, who after a slow start, raced into a 12-6 lead and never looked back. Too many errors from the Slovaks allowed France to go in at half-time 18-8 to the good before controlling the match in the second half to close it out 35-21.

Knowing that this was a decisive game for both Poland and Ukraine, the first ten minutes were very defensive as Slawomir Szmal kept Ukraine at bay. Three quick goals in the eleventh minute allowed Poland to go 7-4 up and continued to extend their advantage to 19-13 at half time.

Ukraine switched to a more defensive approach in the second half, reverting to a 5:1 in order to try and block Karol Bielecki. However, unable to get their attack to function, the Ukrainians often found themselves open to the counter-attack and paid heavily, eventually losing 33-24.

In the same group, Slovenia got their campaign off to a victorious start with a 29-25 victory over Switzerland.

Denmark and Iceland were both victorious in their opening Group C games, beating Hungary and Serbia and Montegero respectively. Iceland were the most impressive as their defence left the Serbs shooting from long range while their attack racked up 36 goals - the most ever scored against the Serbs.

Russia gained revenge over Norway for their defeat in last year's world championships, coming out 24-21 winners in what was a very tense encounter. The Norwegians were always chasing the match but nine penalties gave the Russians the edge when it came to suspensions.

In the other Group D encounter, Croatia had to dig deep to see off Portugal 24-21. The Croats underestimated their opponents, even lacking respect as they tried the spectacular rather than a polished performance. 11-11 at half time, the Croats came out fired up in the second half to take the two points.