Eight teams still dreaming of gold

Sunday 4 August saw the Preliminary Round of the Women’s 19 EHF EURO in Denmark come to an end. The top eight teams have progressed to the Main Round, while the remaining participants will begin their battle for positions 9-16 in the Intermediate Round.

No surprises in Kolding

Group A was a relatively straightforward affair, with all six matches won by at least nine goals. Norway secured their passage to the Main Round with two clear victories over Slovakia and Portugal and were joined by Romania.

A close encounter was expected when the two sides met in the final group game, but after racing into an eight goal lead at half time, Norway cruised to a 31:22 win to top the group.

Dominant Russians

In contrast, the matches from Group B were less clear-cut. The results from day 1 gave an insight into how things were going to pan out, with a tense draw between France and Austria, followed by a 31:19 win for Russia over Germany.

The Russians continued their powerful form with a 26 goal win over Austria, a result which provided France with the opportunity to claim second place in the group, an opportunity which they took thanks to a strong first half performance against Germany. The Germans got on the board with a 23:21 win over their Austrian neighbours and France gave Russia their toughest test to date, going down 29:27 in the final game.

Surprise for the home team

Hosts Denmark got off to solid start in Group C with a commanding defensive performance in their 21:12 win over Croatia. The Danes secured their Main Round berth in after the second game day, thanks to a five goal win over Czech Republic and were joined by Netherlands, who got their second consecutive win in the 30:23 victory over Croatia.

The top two sides faced off in the final match on Sunday evening and it was the hosts who were left disappointed after a 27:29 defeat to the Dutch in front of almost 2,000 spectators. Croatia claimed third place in the group with a two goal win over Czech Republic.

Spain suffer early exit

Group D was a three-way battle for progression from the Preliminary Round and the closely fought nature was evident from the very first game. Hungary’s 22:21 win over Spain was a huge blow for the Spaniards and despite the best efforts of the competition’s current top scorer Teresa Fances Aguardo, they could not overcome Sweden and were out of the running after just the second round.

Hungary beat Sweden 20:16 to secure top spot in the group, while Spain took their frustration of not progressing out on Slovenia, beating them by 16 goals.

The 16 participating teams take a day off before returning to action on Tuesday 6 August. See all of the results and group details here.

For more information on the event and for live streaming of each match, visit the official event website.