Four times world champion Russia was the clear winner in the final and decisive game at the Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament in Aalborg against host Denmark. By a 27:20 victory the team of Jevgeny Trefilow secured the first place, after both teams had already qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games the day before. In the final ranking Tunisia took the third place after their first win in this tournament against Dominican Republic.

 

Tournament 3 in Aalborg, Denmark:

Tunisia vs. Dominican Republic 29:20 (17:8)

Tunisia won the intercontinental duel for the third place in Aalborg – and again Raja Toumi was the outstanding for the Northern Africans with ten goals. After an easy going first half the Tunisians had to fight harder for the victory after the break, as Dominican Republic improved. Both teams had missed the ticket to London after the first two games, losing against Russia and host Denmark. Tunisia started brilliant with a 9:2 – an intermediate result which already paved the way to the first victory. After the first ever ten-goal distance at 19:9 the Carribeans strengthened their defence, whilst Tunisia lacked a little concentration in attack – but the clear win for the runners-up of the African Olympic Qualification had never been endangered. Top scorer for the Dominican Republic – finishing the tournament without a point – was Mariela Andino with six goals.

 

Statements after the match:

Miroslav Vujasinovi, coach, Dominican Republic: We played a very bad first half, but I think we were a lot better after the break. All in all the Dominican Republic does not have the level to play at this level, but we are satisfied, that we have not been totally wiped out and we will continue to work with our young players to improve and get better when we hopefully will attend our next big championship. We have learned a lot here in Denmark and the Danish Association has done a great job making us feel very much at home.

 

Mohamed Ali Sghir, coach Tunisia: It was never an easy match even though we won clearly. We are now trying to work very hard with our young national teams so that we can still be one of the strongest nations in Africa and participate in major tournaments. I think this has been an enjoyable tournament and the Danish Association deserves a lot of credit for their way of being a good host.

 

 

Denmark vs. Russia 20:27 (9:9)

Despite a clearly better goalkeeper performance with 16 saves of Karin Mortensen, Denmark was chanceless in the end against the Russians. The 2008 Olympic Silver medalist was tactically perfectly adapted on the Danish way of playing with a well-balanced team performance. Nearly all Russian field players scored in this match, decisive for the final ranking of this tournament. But it took nearly 50 minutes before the Russian express had started their engines in the right temperature. After an equal first half imprinted by both defence sides and only 18 goals in total, the four times World Champion became dominant. The solid-rock working defence avoided the Danish counter attacks and in attack the efficiency was much better than before the break. Denmark was on eye level until minute 52 and the score of 17:19, but then the Russians took full control of the match with five consecutive goals until the decisive score of 24:17, including brilliant shots of Emilia Turey and Irina Bliznova. In the end the distance was seven goals and the Russians celebrated the first rank, after surprisingly missing the semi-finals at the 2011 World Championship in Brazil. Top scorers were Ann Grete Norgaard with nine goals for the host and Bliznova and Chernoivanenko with each four goals for Russia.

 

Statements after the match:

Jevgeny Trefilov (Coach Russia): We have enjoyed the tournament here in Denmark and I am very pleased that Denmark and Russia have qualified for the Olympic Games in London. Hopefully we can meet again there and hopefully we can play a match, which was just as good as the match today where we only had the upper hand for the last 10-15 minutes. At he very best I would like to meet Denmark again in the final in London.

 

Jan Pytlick (Coach Denmark): I was very pleased with the defensive performance of my team today but we must realize, that our attack is going to improve if we should stand a chance of beating a team as strong as Russia. We are of course very pleased to have qualified for the Olympic Games and we hope that we can play well now that we are back at this important tournament. Also a big congratulation to Russia, who have played extremely well here in this qualifying round.

 

 

Results of previous matches:

Friday 25 May:

Russia vs. Dominican Republic 41:17 (20:10)

Denmark vs. Tunisia 28:24 (12:13)

 

Saturday 26 May:

Tunisia vs. Russia 20:33 (8:17)

Dominican Republic vs. Denmark 21:38 (13:20)