PARIS, Aug 5 (Bernama-dpa) -- Slovenia coach Uros Zorman hinted he was not unhappy to have lost 36-29 to Germany in the Olympic men's handball group stage on Sunday, reported German news agency (dpa).
The German Press Agency (dpa) reported both sides were already through but victory and top spot in the group meant a meeting with Olympic and European champions France. Slovenia now face Norway instead.
"We didn't want to repeat the mistake we made in Rio when we met Denmark in the quarter-finals and actually only had a one per cent chance of success. This time, we said we wanted to be smarter and wiser," Zorman told reporters after the defeat.
Zorman left a number of key players on the bench in the first half. However, this also applied to the German team, who rested some stars.
"There will certainly be some criticism in the end, but we know why we're here. We made the decision together and have nothing to criticise the boys for," Zorman added.
Germany coach Alfred Gislason refused to believe anything underhand was at play.
"There was a lot of talk about whether both teams wanted to win or lose. In the end, both teams came to win. It's also almost impossible to go into a game like this and say we only want to play at half strength," he said.
-- Bernama-dpa
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