Records preserved after dramatic day - London 2012 - Handball

Denmark fended off fast-finishing Serbia to maintain their perfect start in Group B, winning 26-25.

The reigning European champions, firm contenders to be top of the podium next week, had edged past Hungary and Spain in their opening two fixtures and were again made to work by their eastern European opponents.

Indeed, Serbia blazed into a 3-0 lead after five minutes and they led until four straight goals sent the Scandinavians in 13-11 to the good at the break.

A solid performance in the second period, held together by star man Mikkel Hansen, forged the Danes five clear with eight minutes remaining and a routine victory looked on the cards.

But Serbia made a game of it in the final exchanges, managing to close the gap to one by the end, though scoring with the last throw of the game left them no time to try and claim a draw.

Hansen took his tally to 19 goals for the tournament as his side sit second in Group B with six points from six, while Marko Vujin's seven goals were not enough to keep his country from second-bottom, having lost all three games.

Elsewhere, Iceland won the battle of the Scandinavian heavyweights by beating Sweden and maintaining their own 100 per cent record.

The reigning silver medallists, who have seen off Argentina and Tunisia in their opening two games, were held in the opening exchanges by a Sweden side who were also boasting two wins.

But Iceland made their move with two separate sequences of four unanswered goals to grab the win.

Earlier, Spain marched towards the quarter-finals with a straightforward early-morning 33-29 victory over Republic of Korea.

Lee Jae Woo was top scorer for the Koreans, who sit bottom of the pile with three defeats to their name.

France were made to work hard for a 25-19 victory against Tunisia as they booked their place in the quarter-finals.

The reigning Olympic and world champions, who recorded convincing wins over Great Britain and Argentina in their opening two matches, were thwarted for a long time by a tenacious African side, who held them at 17-17 midway through the second half.

But France, inspired by talisman Nikola Karabatic, reeled off six successive goals to put them on their way to victory.

Croatia eased into the quarter-finals with a routine win over Hungary , while Argentina saw off Host Nation Great Britain 32-21.