Russians remain unbeaten

Only four teams remain in the hunt for the Women’s 19 EHF EURO title in Denmark after the conclusion of the Main Round on Wednesday.

Russia, Norway, Hungary and Denmark advance to the semi-finals, while Romania, France, Netherlands and Sweden will have to continue battling for places 5-8.

Russia maintained their impressive 100 per cent record in the tournament with wins against Norway and Romania. Both sides put up strong resistance, but eventually could not deal with the firepower from Daria Dmitrieva and Anna Vyakhireva.

After beating France in the first game, Romania needed the French to beat Norway if they had any hope of making the semi-finals. Although France held an 18:16 lead in a high-scoring first half, the Norwegians, led by nine goals from Hanna Bredal Oftedal, pulled a 28:26 victory out of the bag and secured second place.

Dutch despair

The other Main Round group was even more exciting, with a three way tie on four points.

A win for Netherlands over Denmark in the Preliminary Round gave them an early advantage, but that was wiped out after a 32:28 loss to Hungary, leaving everything to play for on the final day.

Netherlands gave themselves a chance of progressing after a narrow win over Sweden, leaving the hosts needing a win over Hungary in the final match. Despite trailing at half-time, the Danes had a strong second half and secured a 22:19 win, to qualify with Hungary and leave Netherlands out of the medal race.

In the Intermediate Round, Germany, Austria, Spain and Slovenia all recorded perfect records and will progress to play for places 9-12, while Portugal, Slovakia, Croatia and Czech Republic will be hoping to avoid the wooden spoon.

The tournament resumes on Friday 9 August, where the top eight teams will play in Kolding and places 9-16 will be decided in Sønderborg.

In the semi-finals, Russia take on hosts Denmark at 17:30 hrs. followed by Hungary vs Norway at 20:00 hrs.

Further information

For a full overview of the competition, click here.

Find more information and follow the live stream on the official event website.