Hungary emerged victorious from their winner-takes-all battle with Serbia to progress to the last eight, in the process sending their eastern European rivals home with a 26-23 win.
With both sides locked on two points going into the game and only one spot in the last eight remaining, Serbia enjoyed the better start and were 7-4 to the good midway through the first half, thanks to three unanswered goals.
But with a huge Hungarian backing in the Copper Box, Lajos Mocsai's team reduced the deficit to two at the break, going in 11-9 down, and then set themselves up for victory with a pulsating second-half performance.
Tamas Mocsai threw in nine goals for Hungary, while Momir Ilic and Rajko Prodanovic scored five apiece for Serbia as the morning's session started with a bang.
Later, Tunisia secured their place in the knockout stages by emerging victorious from their winner-takes-all clash with Argentina.
It looked like it would be Tunisia's game at a stroll as they raced into a 6-1 lead after nine minutes, but a strong second part of the opening period saw the South Americans haul it back, with the half-time scoreboard reading 12-12.
Tunisia came back again in the early exchanges of the second half and by the midway point they had re-established a three-goal lead that left Argentina with it all to do.
They brought that deficit back to one in the final few seconds as they searched for a way back into the game, but Tunisia scored with the last throw of the game to seal their fate, 25-23.
Elsewhere, Iceland eased to a comprehensive 41-24 win over Great Britain,while Croatia continued their momentum for the quarter-finals with a comfortable 30-25 victory over Spain in the final Group B preliminary match.
Denmark and Republic of Korea shared a tense match before the Danes ran out 26-24 winners courtesy of Anders Eggert Jensen and Michael Knudsen each throwing in six.
In the final game of the night France claimed a 29-26 win over Sweden.
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