Austria and Slovenia go one step further on the road to Denmark

There was home joy for Austria on Saturday evening, as the side that narrowly missed out on a spot at the Women’s EHF EURO 2014 made amends with a third convincing victory in a row to top their World Championship qualification group and book a place in June’s play-offs.

The Austrians held a four-goal lead at half-time against Turkey and never looked back, powering on to take a 32:24 win in front of 1,200 spectators in Stockerau.

Slovenia’s task was far less straightforward against Belarus in Group 1’s deciding game at Sporthalle Zürich.

Belarus lead by one goal going into the dressing rooms in the winner takes all encounter. However, Slovenia turned the game on its head, thanks to Metz star Ana Gros’ nine-goal haul, and took the game 35:33 and top spot.

Meanwhile, Iceland brought their successful Group 3 campaign to an end with another comprehensive win against FYR Macedonia in Skopje. The 28:22 victory makes it four wins from four for another team unlucky to not be a part of the EHF EURO event in Hungary and Croatia this month.