03.07.2012, 06:09
Women's 18 European Open goes to Main Round

The Preliminary Round is complete, best eight teams go through to Main Round

Women's 18 European Open goes to Main Round

The Preliminary Round of the Women’s 18 European Open is now complete and the best eight teams will proceed in the Main Round. 

In 2010, Denmark won the championship but they are not defending their title in 2012. However, Russia (2nd in 2010) and Sweden (3rd in 2010) are competing and made it to the main round.

Group 1

In Group 1, the Russian team was very convincing and won both matches (28:10 against Switzerland and 25:16 against Poland).

They were physically and technically better than their opponents and finish the Preliminary Round as first of their group.

Poland qualifies as second team for the Main Round. The Swiss fought bravely against Poland but it didn’t help, Poland won 23:19.

Group 2

The Norwegian squad made it to the Main Round after two clear victories against Austria (24:12) and Finland (17:7). They had no problems to qualify for the next round of the competition.

Austria join the Norwegians after a victory against Finland. The Finish team played on its limit against Austria but the Austrian girls made the difference in the first half (10:8) and won the game (17:15).

Group 3

In Group 3, the Czech Republic and Sweden go to Main Round. Sweden won 22:18 against Lithuania and 32:14 gaianst Sweden.

In the last leg, the Czech Republic won their last game against Sweden (27:20) and iare the winners of Group 3 in front of Sweden, Lithuania and Belgium.

In the last game of the Preliminary Round, Lithuania defeated the Belgian (39:19) and secured the third place in their group.

Group 4

After a very convincing start against Italy (32:15) and Iceland (29:10), the German girls won their third match against Romania (18:15) too and end first in their group.

Romania is the second team to qualify for the Main Round after a very close game against Italy which Romania won 20:19 and a victory against Iceland (23:18).

In the last game of Group 4, Italy won against Iceland (17:16) and ends up third in their group.

Main Round

The main round will start on Wednesday 4rth July. The remaining teams will be divided into two groups.The placements matches and the final will be played on Friday 6th July.

Group 1: Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Romania

Group 2: Germany, Norway, Sweden, Poland

Challenge Round

The squads that didn’t make it to the main round will continue in the challenge round.

Group 3: Switzerland, Belgium, Italy

Group 4: Finland, Lithuania, Iceland

The full match schedule can be found here.

For a complete overview of the event, including player and official lists, download the Competition guide here.

TEXT: EHF