BULGARIA – CANADA 26:24 (10:12)
The first minutes of the match promised very exciting and interesting handball as both teams concentrated their efforts in defence. After seven minutes the score was only 2:2. This trend of playing goal for goal continued until the 27th minute when Canada scored 3 goals in a row to make it 10:12. It was the first time a team scored more than two goals in a row in this game. In the end, this proved to be the half time score, as the teams tightened their defence in the last three and a half minutes, and no more goals were scored.
The first fifteen minutes of the second half were a mere image of the first. They played goal for goal, until Bulgaria scored three goals in a row for the first time in the game to take a 17:16 lead in the 46th minute. It was a very exciting game ever since and the Bulgarian girls proved to have better nerves in the thrilling last five minutes of the match winning the game 26:24.
This win places Bulgaria on top of the table with 4 points, right behind DR Congo who have a better goal difference at the moment.
Stephanie Grise scored six goals for Canada followed by 5 from Emily Routhier, but it was the Bulgarian Stanislava Dimitrova who brought the victory to her team hitting the Canadian net 12 times.
THAILAND – AUSTRALIA 28:26 (18:16)
Australia had the better opening of the game, as the scoreboard showed 2:4 after 5 minutes and 4:6 after 8 minutes, but then Thailand with a 6:0 scoring run took full control of the result. However the Aussies were not willing to surrender just yet, and this time they scored four goals in a row to make it 10:10 after 15 minutes. The remaining time of the first half showed us a seesaw in terms of result as both teams changed in the lead. The Thai girls were slightly better and went to the half time with a deserved two goals lead.
In the second half, none of the teams could push forward and decide the game. Even though Thailand was the favourite before the match, the Australian girls had no intention of selling their skin cheaply. They fought until the very end of the match and came very close to winning a point. However, in the end, it was Thailand putting the points on their account, the first ones they won on the IHF Trophy InterContinental Phase.
Madeleine McAfee was once again the best Australian player scoring incredible 13 times (50 % of all Australian goals) and Piman Wipaporn scored 6 for Thailand.
UZBEKISTAN – AUSTRALIA 32:14 (17:8)
Uzbekistan had the better start in this game and very quickly, after only 10 minutes, they had a 5 goals lead. After this initial period, Australia managed to balance the game, and kept the 5 goal difference for most of the half. In the last 5 minutes however, Uzbekistan once again upped the ante and took a comfortable 17:8 lead on half time.
In the second half time, the winner of the Continental Phase of the IHF Trophy for Asia completely dominated the game. They conceded only 6 goals and scored 15 to close the game at final 32:14
The best scorer in the winning team was Rajabboy Islomov who scored 9 goals, while Harry Watson and Harjodh Singh scored 4 goals each for the Oceania outfit.
MOLDOVA – NIGERIA (13:8)
The first ten minutes of this very important encounter were an equal affair, but as time progressed, just like yesterday against Mexico, the back line of Moldova, fully took advantage of their height and created a five goal difference by half time. It was a game where the patient, positional attack of the Moldovans was countered by the fast 1:1 breakthroughs of the Nigerian team.
In the beginning of the second half time, Nigeria played a better game and came close to as little as 3 goals at 16:13, but this switched the alarm bells in the Moldovan team and they took their game to the highest level. They constantly increased the difference and in the end, they comfortably won 35:22.
Andrei Nederita was the best scorer of the winning team scoring 7 times, but their goalkeeper Alexandr Sanin was the man of the match in their tonight’s win.
Just like yesterday, the team play was Nigeria’s greatest asset as 9 of their players put their names on the scoring sheet, with a particularly outstanding performance of their pivot Jamilu Adamu.