Serbia struggle with Poland, while other top teams sure-footed

The opening day in Aarhus and Copenhagen saw strong displays of three favourites and one thrilling finish.

In Group C in NRGI Arena the 2012 finalists from Serbia made a right first step on the way to defend their silver medals, even though they squandered a four-goal lead after the first half against Poland and had to come from behind 20 minutes before the end. The rejuvanated squad of Poles was inspired by an impressive performance of their veteran goalkeeper Slavomir Szmal, but at the end it was Darko Stanic's save in the Serbian goal which prevented the Polish team to tie the match just before the buzzer (20:19).

In the second match in Aarhus the reigning Olympic winners France were never really in a trouble against Russia as the newcomer Kevynn Nyokas led his team to a 35:28 win with nine goals.

Belarus in Copenhagen's Group D entered the match against clear medal contenders Croatia without Siarhei Rutenka as the FC Barcelona star was sidelined by a fever. Croatians recorded the biggest win of the tournament so far defeating Belarus 33:22.

Swedish invasion in Brondby Arena pushed their team to a convincing 28:21 win against Montenegro as Kim Ekdahl Du Rietz scored seven goals showing his team's ambitions should not be dented by Kim Andersson's absence.