Denmark sneak into main round at W17 EHF EURO

Denmark have recovered well from their slow start into the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2019: after a loss and a draw in their first two matches, they beat already-qualified Germany 30:24 in Group C on Sunday - which turned out to be enough for a place in the main round.

The Scandinavian side benefitted from a favourable outcome of the latter game in the group, between Portugal and Netherlands. Both teams could have overtaken Denmark in second place, but the Dutch 35:34 win didn’t help either side.

Apart from Denmark, Norway (against Spain) and Austria (against Slovakia) also made it to the main round after winning their last group games.

The three nations complete the line-up for the main round (playing schedule), after Sweden, Hungary, Germany, France and Russia had already qualified on Day 2. The main round starts on Tuesday.

The eight nations that failed to make the main round still have a lot to play for this week as the team finishing in ninth place, like all teams in the main round, will qualify for the Women’s Youth (U-18) World Championship 2020 in China.

Group A: Norway join Sweden into main round

After a big loss to Sweden in their opening game, Norway won the next two games, including a 26:22 victory over Spain on Sunday, to finish the group in second place with four points.

Already confirmed as group winners, Sweden maintained their winning run by beating Croatia 28:21, with left back Tyra Axner netting nine times, raising her total for the tournament to a leading 27.

Group B: Austria beat Slovakia in ‘final’

The winner takes it all applied to the match between Austria and Slovakia, with a main-round ticket waiting for the winning side. The match was still in the balance (17:17) with 15 minutes left on the clock but Austria had the stronger finish to take a 28:23 win, led by eight goals from Katarina Pandza.  

Group winners Hungary passed the 100-goal mark by defeating Romania 39:32 to become the most-scoring team in the preliminary round.

Group C: Denmark grab last chance

Denmark knew they needed a substantial win over Germany to stand any chance of qualifying - and they did just that. Thanks to 12 goals from Maria Wierzba, they defeated the 2017 champions 30:24.

Still, Denmark had to wait a couple of hours for the result of the last group game: Portugal would advance with a win or a draw, Netherlands needed a win by at least four goals. But both teams didn’t get what they wanted as the Dutch side won by just one goal, 35:34.

Both finishing on three points, Denmark (+3) edged Netherlands (0) on goal difference for the second place in the group and the ticket to the main round.

Group D: France see off Russia for first place

Both already qualified for the main round, France beat Russia 32:25, with nine goals from Léna Grandveau, to win the group and take two points with them into the main round.

In the other group game, hosts Slovenia finally got their first win of the tournament after defeating Montenegro 28:25.

All matches live on ehfTV.com

After a rest day on Monday, play will resume on Tuesday. All matches of the tournament in Celje are streamed live on ehfTV.com.

Information on the W17 EHF EURO 2019 is also available on the official tournament homepage.