Norway win European Police Championship

From 9-14 March 2014, the European Police Championship in Handball for women took place in The Hague, the Netherlands. The games were played at the accommodation of handball club HV Hellas, The Hague. The Dutch Police Sports Federation NPSB organized the tournament under the auspices of the European Police Sports Federation USPE and the EHF sent three female international referee pairs to the event.

The countries competing in this tournament were Germany (reigning champion), France, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Austria and host nation The Netherlands. After the three days of group matches, the games for the final day were decided. The game for the 5th place was between The Netherlands and Denmark, the battle for bronze was contested by Germany and Austria, while Norway and France went for gold.

Gold for Norway

The final was a close affair throughout; with the teams level for much of the first half until the Norwegians took a slight lead and went into the half-time break 14:11 ahead. 

The French however, did their utmost to close the gap, but could not get within reach in an exhilarating second half. The Norwegian team held on to their first half advantage and managed to secure victory. 

With the final score of 23:20 Norway became European Police Champion 2014, France took home the silver medal and bronze went to Germany after they beat Austria 44:18.

EHF Referees

As part of the ongoing cooperation between the USPE and the European Handball Federation, three EHF referee pairs were sent to The Hague to officiate the entire championship. The pairs were Malgorzata Gutowska/Urzula Lesiak (POL), Cristina Nastase/Simona Raluca Stancu (ROU) and Alexandra Laurell/Natasha Engberg (SWE).

Final standings of the 4th EPC handball for women:

Gold: Norway
Silver: France
Bronze: Germany
4th: Austria
5th: Netherlands
6th: Denmark
7th: Hungary

Most valuable player: Anna Leitner (AUT)
Top scorer: Mari Hegna (NOR) - 32 goals
Best goalkeeper: Ine Heer (NOR)
Fair play Cup: Austria