Montenegro and Romania finished their Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament II campaigns with an exciting draw that settled Romania into first place in the group.
In the second match of the evening, Denmark and Uruguay ended the tournament in Aarhus with the first win for the hosts.
Sunday March 20 in CERES Arena, Aarhus
Montenegro vs Romania 23:23 (11:15)
After recording wins in their first two matches of Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament II in Aarhus, Romania and Montenegro stepped on the court on Sunday already qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with first place in the group to be decided between them.
Montenegro started strong in the opening minutes, but Romania kept pace and after the first five minutes the score was level at 3:3.
As the first half progressed Romania increased their tempo in attack while simultaneously strengthening their defence to cause problems for Montenegro at their end of the court. The 22nd IHF Women’s Handball World Championship bronze medallists played efficient attack and capitalised on their chances to move ahead to an 8:4 advantage midway through the half, and the difference remained four goals at half-time.
In the second half Romania kept pushing forward and Montenegro tried their best to hang on. Both teams struggled to play at the top of the game as it started to show that it was the third day in a row of tough handball matches, inviting unforced errors onto the court though Romania maintained a steady advantage. With ten minutes left there were still five goals separating the two teams at 22:17 in favour of Romania.
Montenegro kept fighting and when the clock showed 55 minutes the gap had shrunk to only one goal, but moments later they received two two-minute suspensions and were forced to play four against six.
Romania did not take advantage of the situation however, and the match ended with a tense few minutes and a level score line at the whistle.
Player of the Match presented by adidas: Jelena Despotovic (MNE) Left Back
Denmark vs Uruguay 38:17 (19:7)
Both teams came into the match on the back of two consecutive losses against Romania and Montenegro. Neither could make it to the Olympic Games with Tournament II’s places already allocated to Romania and Montenegro, but both were determined to record a good result in their final game of the qualification stage.
Denmark came out strong and quickly took the lead to create a score of 3:0 after five minutes, while Uruguay missed their shooting opportunities. Denmark goalkeeper Sandra Toft (53% save rate) made several big saves, including three penalties, in first half and was clearly one of the Pan American team’s biggest headaches.
When Denmark took the score to 4:0 Uruguay coach Miguel Berger called a time-out, after which his team fought hard to score their first goal in the 12th minute. But midway through the half Denmark’s dominance was clear when they led 10:1.
Denmark continued to pressure Uruguay with one fast break goal after another, with six goals at 100% accuracy from left wing Ann Grete Nørgaard. At the break it seemed the outcome of the match was decided as the hosts led by almost 12 goals.
In the second period Denmark continued with strong defence and fast break goals that increased their advantage to 22:7 five minutes in.
Uruguay continued to fight, but Denmark were always one or two steps ahead. With 10 minutes left the scoreboard showed an unrelenting advantage for the hosts at 31:13, and the final whistle brought an authoritative Danish win.
Player of the Match presented by adidas: Camila Barreiro (URU) Right Back