08.07.2012, 09:03
Men's 20 European Championship heading to Main Round

The Men's 20 have completed the Preliminary Round and there will be a new European champion.

Men's 20 are heading to Main Round

The men's 20 have completed the Preliminary Round of the European Championship and there will be a new European Champion.

Defending champion Denmark didn't qualify for the Main Round.

However, the second and the third ranked teams from 2010, Portugal and Slovenia are still in the race.

Group A

After three victories in three games Spain is the obvious winner of Group A.

They defeated the host, Turkey, (41:22), the Czech Republic (33:20) and Norway (29:24).

Norway secures the second place in Group A and is the second team that qualifies for the Main Round.

They won against the Czech Republic (34:28) and Turkey (33:18).

In the last game of Preliminary Group A, the Czech Republic won against Turkey (42:27), both teams go to Intermediate Round.

Group B

Portugal wins Preliminary Group B. A victory against Croatia (28:23) and Poland (32:29) and a draw against Russia (32:32) were enough to qualify for the Main Round.

After two victories against Russia (22:36) and Poland (35:33), Croatia is the second team that makes it to the Main Round.

The draw against Portugal wasn't enough for Russia to make it to the Main Round.

After a single victory against the Polish team (32:18), Russia makes the third place in Group B.

Poland goes to the Intermediate Round too.

Group C

Sweden is the clear winner of Preliminary Group C.

The Swedish team won their matches against Switzerland (29:24), Iceland (36:23) and Denmark (30:20).

The second place goes to the Swiss team that won against Denmark (25:24) and Iceland (28:22).

The defending campion,Denmark, and Iceland go to Intermediate Round.

Denmark secures the third place after a victory against Iceland (28:22).

Group D

After two victories in three games, Slovenia and Germany were on top of Group D but since Slovenia defeated the German team (31:25), they are the winner of the group.

Slovenia won their first game against France (30:23), the second against Germany.

In their last game, they were defeated by the Serbians (23:26).

The second team that qualifies for the Main Round, Germany, celebrated a victory against Serbia (24:20) and the French squad (28:25).

After a close match against Serbia (28:27), the French secure the third place in Group D.

Main Round

The Main Round starts on Tuesday 10^th July.

The best two teams of every team make it to the semi-final.

The other two teams will play cross matches.

Group M1

Spain
Norway
Portugal
Croatia

Group M2

Sweden
Switzerland
Slovenia
Germany

Intermediate Round

Group I1

Turkey
Czech Republic
Russia
Poland

Group I2

Denmark
Iceland
France
Serbia

You can find an overview of the results and the full playing schedule here.

You can watch the games on live stream.

For more information, visit the official website.

TEXT: EHF