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2012 Men’s 18 European Championship – Update
The Main Round of the 2012 Men’s 18 European Championship has come to an end and the teams that made it through are now looking forward to the Semi-Final matches that will take place in Bregenz with the Final being staged in the town of Hard on Sunday 22 July.
Based on their performance in the Main Round, the defending champion Croatia can no longer defend their title; the strength of the national teams from Germany and Sweden were decisive in the elimination of the Croatian team from the competition.
Main Round
Group 1
Germany and Sweden qualified for the semi-finals; the Swedes have been very convincing until now as they won all their matches in the Preliminary and the Main Rounds. After they defeated Germany in the Preliminary Round (29:20), they celebrated two further victories against the host, Austria (33:24) and Belarus (35:29) in the Main Round.
The German team secured the second place after a victory against Belarus (31:24) and Austria (34:24) in the Main Round.
Austria won against Belarus (31:23) in the Preliminary Round. However, they did not stand a chance against the other teams in the Main Round; meanwhile, Belarus ranked fourth in Group 1.
Group 2
Spain and Denmark qualified for the semi-finals. The Spaniards ranked first place in Group 2 after they defeated Slovenia (39:37) and Denmark (34:27) in the Main Round. However, they lost against Croatia (40:35) in the Preliminary Round. Denmark defeated Slovenia in the Preliminary Round (29:25) and Croatia in the Main Round (28:26). Slovenia and Croatia are third and fourth in Group 2. Slovenia defeated Croatia (42:33).
Intermediate Round
Group I1
The French secured the first place in Group I1. In the Intermediate Round, they defeated the Czech Republic (38:24) and the second ranked Norway (31:30). In the Preliminary Round, they drew against Iceland (28:28). Norway came to the Intermediate Round with a victory against the Czech Republic (35:21) and in the Intermediate Round the Norwegian squad won against Iceland (37:30). After a victory against Iceland (27:26), the Czech national team secured the third place in the group ahead of Iceland.
Group I2
The final ranking of Group I2 reads Romania, Serbia, Switzerland and Finland. With 6 points, the Romanians are the leaders of the group. They won against Switzerland (30:29) in the Preliminary Round and against Serbia (38:32) and Finland (30:23) in the Intermediate Round. Serbia defeated Finland (35:20) in the Preliminary Round and Switzerland (33:27) in the Intermediate Round. Switzerland won against Finland (31:23) who lost all their games.
Cross matches and Semi-finals
The two first ranked teams of each Group of the Main Round proceed to Semi-Finals. The other teams play cross-matches before fighting for the final placements. The cross-matches as well as the Semi-Finals will be played on Friday 20 July.
The placement matches and the final will be played from Saturday 21 to Sunday 22 July, with the Final at 18:00hrs on Sunday.
Follow the 2012 Men’s 18 European Championship on live stream.
Semi-Finals
Sweden vs. Denmark
Spain vs. Germany
Cross-matches
Cross-matches 5-8
Austria vs. Croatia
Slovenia vs. Belarus
Cross-matches 9-12
France vs. Serbia
Romania vs. Norway
Cross-matches 13-16
Czech Republic vs. Finland
Switzerland vs. Iceland
All the results and the complete playing schedule can be found here and more information can be found on the official website.
TEXT: EHF
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