Young Danes shine in Skopje

Three teams went through the preliminary round of the Women’s 17 EHF EURO with a perfect record.

Russia, Croatia and Denmark all topped their group with the maximum three wins and have given themselves an early advantage in the race for the semi-final spots in Skopje.

Sweden and Slovenia take one point a piece with them into the main round of the competition after they shared the spoils in the Group A decider.

Following clear victories over Czech Republic and FYR Macedonia, the Slovenians managed to come back from a 20:13 half-time deficit to salvage a 29:29 draw on Sunday. Meanwhile, the hosts end this phase of the competition with the worst record and will be keen to improve in the Intermediate Round.

Having been highlighted as one of the pre-tournament favourites, Russia did not disappoint with their dispatch of Germany, Spain and Romania, leaving the trio to battle it out for second place in Group B.

All three teams ended the round with two points but it is Romania who remain in contention for gold thanks to their superior goal difference among the sides.

Group C saw Croatia go unbeaten, despite a scare from fourth placed Portugal in the final round. An impressive second half performance from France in their final match against Netherlands was enough for them to progress in second place.

Perhaps the most impressive side at the championship so far is Denmark. Following a narrow win over Hungary in the opening match, the Danes let loose with heavy wins over Slovakia (31:14) and neighbours Norway (37:17) to finish with the best goal difference and best defensive record of the 16 participants.

Action resumes on Tuesday with the Intermediate and Main Round of the competition and will conclude on Wednesday night, at which point we will know the four teams progressing to Friday’s semi-finals.

Live stream available

Enjoy the live stream of the matches from Skopje by heading to the games on the official event website.

The European Handball Federation will cover the event on eurohandball.com and also on Twitter and Facebook.

Under the banner of ‘Let’s Play Handball’ a group of 30 young media volunteers from 15 countries are also covering the 12th edition of the Women’s 17 EHF European Championship