Austria replace Brazil at Women's Youth World Championship

Austria become the 15th European nation to play at the 24-team Women's Youth World Championship in Kielce, Poland (7 to 19 August), after the team of Brazil announced its withdrawal on Monday.

"Upon receiving the notice, in accordance with Article 2.8. of the Regulations for IHF Competitions for Youth and Junior Events, the IHF approached two other nations that competed at the 2018 Pan American Women’s Youth Handball Championship as potential replacements," a statement published on the IHF website reads.

"Unfortunately, no other Pan American team is able to travel to Kielce, Poland for the Youth World Championship.

"Therefore, the place was reallocated to Europe as the continent of the previous world champion in this age category (Russia). As the next best-ranked team at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2017, Austria were approached by the IHF and accepted the invitation to participate at Poland 2018," the statement concludes.

This brings the number of European participants at the tournament to 15. Austria take the place of Brazil and face Germany, winners of the Women's 17 EHF EURO 2017, Romania, Slovakia, Poland and Angola in group A.

Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Sweden, Egypt and Chile have been seeded in group B; in group C, Norway, China, Russia, the Netherlands, Japan and Argentina battle it out for the four top spots that guarantee a place in the last 16. Korea, Tunisia, France, Montenegro, Spain and Kazakhstan are the six teams in group D.