17.01.2016, 10:55
Austria, Netherlands book tickets to World Championship Play-offs

REVIEW: The first phase of the qualification to the Men's World Championship 2017 has come to an end, with Austria and Netherlands becoming teams five and six to qualify for the play-offs

Austria, Netherlands book tickets to World Championship Play-offs

Austria and Netherlands have become the final two teams to qualify for the World Championship Play-offs from the first phase of the qualification after both teams won their decisive qualifiers on Sunday.

Austria needed a win against Finland at home, and a win was what they got, as they comfortable beat Finland 32:20 in Group 2.

In Group 6 Netherlands had already made the first step last Wednesday when they beat Switzerland away 24:21, and they finished the job in style on Sunday, recording their second victory in this double-header, this time even by 13 goals, 34:21.

In Groups 1 and 3 the respective first-ranked teams, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Latvia, were already known, so the games played had no impact on the final ranking.

Slovakia beat Kosovo away 26:22, while Bosnia-Herzegovina recorded a 31:22 win against Lithuania in Group 1; Latvia beat Ukraine 22:21 and Cyprus held down Greece 27:24 in Group 3.

Czech Republic, in Group  5, already qualified on Saturday with a win against Turkey; Portugal, in Group 4, had become the first team to qualify for the play-offs already in autumn last year.

The play-offs will be played in June 2016. There will be nine double-headers, with the remaining 12 teams coming from the EHF EURO 2016 in Poland.

Photo: ÖHB

TEXT: EHF / ts