BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- In-form France continued their winning streak after outclassing spain 28-21, while host China received the fourth straight loss, beaten 22-29 by Brazil at the Beijing Olympic men's handball here on Saturday.

    The French side enjoyed a flying start with an 8-2 run. Goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer made a series of impressive saves.

    Although recognized as one of the best left backs in the world, Nikola Karabatic paced France as a center back in most of the time. His untraceable assists helped "Les bleus" lead 16-10 by the interval.

    The Spanish squad came back strongly when the game resumed, scoring three unanswered goals to close the gap. But France charged a 4-0 surge to extend their margin. Throughout the last quarter France steadily controlled the game, still with Karabatic, the 2007 IHF World Player of the Year, in the driving seat.

    "We've managed to improve our offense and defence in this match. We've taken some self-confidence from this. We knew our defence was good, and now we know our offense is good as well," said Karabatic, who netted in five points and created more clear chances for the teammates.

    Coaching the only team that remains unbeaten at Beijing Olympic men's handball event, confident Onesta said. "We don't care who we are facing, and we only focus on the match itself. Of course we will not choose the opponent deliberately, but we will find out proper tactics to beat them. It is more important to keep the players' form than to think about the opponent."

    In the final preliminary match, France will take on Poland who upset defending gold medalist Croatia 27-24 today.

    Campared with Onesta's confidence, Chinese coach Yan Weiying remained a humble profile.

    "It is our great honor to have chance to compete in Beijing Olympics. We come here to learn from world top teams. Our players are lack of international experiences and they have already benefited a lot from previous games," said Yan after they lost 22-29 to Brazil.

    The young Chinese side did appear green-handed in the court. Encountering an early blow after starting keeper Wang Long twisted his ankle and quit the game, China trailed 10-14 in the first half. However, they suffered a 0-6 nightmare because Brazil changed their defending strategy after the break. China struggled to regain the rhythm until pivot Cui Liang broke the scoring drought eight minutes into the second half.

    "We tried our best to fight, though we knew we could not go further. But still, we will keep fighting, with our high morale," said Hao Kexin, China's Ace shooter.

    African champion Eygpt have not earned a victory, either. After conceding 22-24 to South Korea, the Egyptians lost their last chance to make it into the quarterfinals.

    Athens Games bronze medalist Russia still held their chance to reach the top eight, but slim. After tying to world titlist Germany 24-24, they needed to conquer South Korea and pray for Denmark's defeat to book their quarterfinal ticket.

    Top scorer Snorri Gudjonsson netted in a 7m throw for Iceland four seconds before the buzzer to level with Denmark 32-32. Owing to this one point earned today, Iceland entered the quarterfinal after they finishing 9th in Athens.