Great Britain have lost their opening handball Group A game to Beijing gold-medallists France by a score of 44-15.
It started well for Team GB as Steven Larsson opened the scoring inside two minutes, but France responded almost immediately with their dangerous counter-attack.
Larsson missed a penalty with the score at 4-2, before France went into a five-point lead and were looking comfortable.
Britain continued to stay in touch with the French, reducing the deficit to 8-5 after Larsson's second, and he became the first man to score three in the game on 18 minutes.
France started to pull away throughout the rest of the half as it ended 20-7 to the reigning champions, Samuel Honrubia and Guillaume Joli each with five goals at the half.
The second half started as the first ended, with France scoring almost every chance before Britain's top scorer Larsson was controversially sent off on 38.
The game was already France's by then and the remaining 22 minutes were a procession.
A series of goals from France were briefly interrupted by some excellent Great Britain finishes, and the French wrapped up a 44-15 victory, Joli top-scoring with 11.
Matt Domm
