The Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments begin on Friday (18 March) in Metz (FRA), Astrakhan (RUS) and Aarhus (DEN), at the end of which all 12 teams to compete for Olympic glory in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) in August will be confirmed.

To read a preview of the opening day in Metz click here
To read a preview of the opening day in Aarhus click here

For daily referee and officials nominations click here

The three-day tournament in Astrakhan will see hosts Russia, Sweden, Poland and Mexico compete inside the 6,000-capacity Sport Arena Zvezdny to win their ticket to Brazil.

Poland vs Russia – Sport Arena Zvezdny, Astrakhan, Russia
Friday 18 March, 17.30 hrs (local time)

Just a handful of the 28-name squad of Poland play their club handball outside of the country and under the guidance of Danish coach Kim Rasmussen have had impressive results in the past two IHF Women’s World Championships, making it to the semi-finals in both the 2013 and 2015 editions.

Since the Dane took over Poland has beaten Russia three times since and he will be no stranger to Russia as, along with his club work at CSM Bucuresti, he will return to Russia in early April to play against Rostov-Don in the quarter-finals of the Women’s EHF Champions league.

Key Polish players including Karolina Kudłacz-Gloc and her goalscoring prowess, along with Kinga Achruk will be the ones to watch for Poland whilst Lyudmila Postnova, playing in her home club town, will look to add to her 646 career goals for the Russians.

Coached by the full-of-life Evgeniy Trefilov, Russia will be a formidable challenge for all three teams who face them this weekend and they will be hoping to get an early win under their belts to set the tone for the weekend.

With a silver medal from the 2008 Olympics to his name, amongst many other medals, Trefilov will be looking for some sort of revenge against Poland, who defeated Russia at DEN 2015 on their way to the semi-finals after their impressive early-round form saw them unbeaten and installed as favourites for the title.

Sweden vs Mexico – Sport Arena Zvezdny, Astrakhan, Russia
Friday 18 March, 20.00 hrs (local time)

Sweden and Mexico have never previously met in any handball international, men’s or women’s, and a further small piece of handball history will be made in Astrakhan on Friday night (18 March) as the Mexican women’s national team play their first competitive game in Europe.

Both the men’s and women’s national teams have never qualified for any IHF World Championships and have had limited participation at the Pan American Games.

However, the strength of the Brazilian women’s team, first winning the 2013 IHF Women’s World Championship in Serbia and then as hosts of the 2016 Olympic Games, plus Argentina already qualifying for Rio 2016, allows a space to open up for the Central American side despite narrowly losing out in qualifying for the 2015 IHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark in the four-team play-off with DR Congo and Kazakhstan taking the two final spots.

As semi-finalists along with Uruguay at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, Mexico earned the right to compete in Astrakhan in what will be a baptism of fire against a strong Swedish side.

Head Coach Monica Pina, who played for the national team herself from 2000-2006 and has been coach since 2012, chose her 28-name full squad made up from only Mexico based players, formed from the 10 adult women’s team in the country across the federal capital and states including Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Sonora and Aguas Calientes.

“All of our players have amateur status,” she told rushandball.ru. “Members of the national team get a scholarship of $150 a month from the federal budget and half of the team is studying in higher education institutions with others working, we get to train three or four times a week in the evenings.”

Those players include a wide mix of youth and experience ahead of the final 16-name squad to be announced on the day of the first game, with Berenice Esquivel a clear attacking threat with 1,230 in 250 games from her left back position and the newcomer at right wing, Baja California’s Abril Jaramillo.

“We are well aware of our level and in Astrakhan we will learn, but I promise that we will strive to show a good game in each of the three matches,” she said. Her side played local club side Astrakhanochka in a warm-up this week and surprised many, staying in touch for the whole match before losing 38:25.

The Swedish women’s side are well-known on the international stage with many of the squad part of the EHF EURO 2014 bronze medal-winning side – a result expected to be repeated or better at DEN 2015, but they fell well short, losing to the hosts and not even making the quarter-finals, despite an impressive group performance.

Head Coach Thomas Sivertsson quickly left the team who now welcome back his former assistant Helle Thomsen, the architect of the EHF EURO 2014 bronze.

The leaders for Sweden leaders are Isabelle Gullden and Linnea Torstensson, who play for CSM Bucuresti in Romania while the naturalised 30-year-old right back, Jasmina Dapanovic, who played for Serbia previously, will make her competitive debut after playing in two warm-up games, which included a 32:29 win over DEN 2015 bronze medallist Romania in Kristianstad on Tuesday (15 March).

Sweden will be hoping to qualify for Rio to improve on their disappointing 11th-place finish at London 2012.

All matches will be available to watch via live stream here.

For further information on the Rio 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Astrakhan, visit the Handball Federation of Russia mini-site HERE.

You can also follow the events from Russia on Twitter (@rushandball), Facebook (rushandball.ru) and Instagram (@rushandball).