Tournament hosts and reigning world champions France jumped to a 6:2 start and maintained a cushion until the end of the fist half (15:12).

Powered by the loud home crowd, France never let Slovenians come closer than four goals in the second half, and managed the biggest lead of six goals (27:21) towards the end of the match.

France is a very physical team and if you want to beat them you need to play almost a perfect game, said Slovenia's Jure Dolenec after the match.

Slovenia will play on Saturday for the bronze against the loser of the other semi-final pair of Croatia and Norway.

It will be the second time Slovenia play for the bronze medal at world championships. Four years ago in Spain Slovenia lost to Croatia in the third-place match.