World Championship

Denmark and Russia face off in final

Björn Pazen

26 August 2012, 10:27

Denmark and Russia face off in final

The women’s youth teams of Denmark and Russia have qualified for the final of the IV World Championship in Montenegro, a repeat of the 2011 Women's 17 European Championship final.

Just as in 2006, when they became the first ever world champion in this age category, the Danish girls have reached the final by beating Romania in the semi.

The Russian girls hade made their way to the final with a win against Norway. This was their sixth victory in six matches and takes them to the final against Denmark on Sunday (18.15 hrs local time).

Norway will face Romania in the bronze final on Sunday (16:00 hrs local time) after their first defeat in the tournament in Montenegro.

Semi-final 1: Romania – Denmark 28:39 (15:19)

After a 6:3 for Romania and a Danish time-out, the Scandinavians improved, while their opponents did not show their usual performing level in defence.

The Danes consistently found their way through the defensive wall, their back court shooters having no problems scoring.

And it became even worse for the Romanians, who were not able to overcome their defensive problems, and also struggled to score against the superb Danish goalkeeper Christina Elm. Her saves boosted her team in attack, extending the margin to seven goals.

Annika Meyer with eight goals from eight attempts and Mette Tranborg (nine goals) were the Danish top scorers, while Pricopi and Safta scored five times each for Romania.

Semi-final 2: Russia – Norway 33:27 (18:12)

The Scandinavians were in the lead at 6:5 for the last time, before the Russian express started their full speed mode.

As the Norwegians missed too many chances against the Russian wall, their opponents forged ahead through counter attacks – without their goalkeepers Maria Aarstadt and Andrea Pedersen the margin would have even been higher for Norway than the half-time score of 18:12.

The encounter became a duel of the back court shooters of both sides including the top scorers Alena Ikhneva (seven goals for Russia) and Emilie Arntzen (10 goals for Norway).

But the 2011 European bronze medallists gained confidence, reducing the score from 16:24 to 20:25 and 23:27 in minute 49. But as Norway had to shoot early to have a chance to turn the game, they became hectic – and Russia decided the game, 32:25, four minutes before the end.

Placement round 5-8:

Hungary and Sweden will face each other for the fifth position. Hungary beat Japan clearly and Sweden had a much higher mountain to climb to won against France.

The constellation of the 5/6 placement match (start: 13:45 hrs local times) means that defending champions Sweden can take revenge for their 13:21 defeat in the preliminary round.

The 7/8 placement Japan and France will be the opener on Sunday at 11:30 hrs local time.

Hungary – Japan 30:25 (15:14)
Sweden – France 24:22 (13:12)

Placement matches 9-20:

9/10: Netherlands – Korea 32:33 (19:20)
11/12: Montenegro – Brazil 29:28 (11:21, 26:26) after penalty shoot-out
13/14: Croatia vs. Czech Republic 23:26 (11:14)
15/16: Kazakhstan vs. Angola 30:35 (14:19)
17/18: DR Congo vs. Uruguay 26:32 (13:16)
19/20: Paraguay vs. Portugal 16:26 (6:12)

Final rankings 9-20:

9. Korea
10. Netherlands
11. Montenegro
12. Brazil
13. Czech Republic
14. Croatia
15. Angola
16. Kazakhstan
17. Uruguay
18. DR Congo
19. Portugal
20. Paraguay