Review: 2016 IHF Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament II – Aarhus, Denmark
Teams: Denmark, Uruguay, Montenegro, Romania

Hosts Denmark crashed out of contention on the second day of the tournament and while the South American side Uruguay put up a brave fight, the strength of Romania’s attack and the defence of Montenegro saw the two European sides through to Brazil.

For full statistics, reports and pictures, visit the Aarhus mini-site HERE.

Match Day 1

Uruguay vs Montenegro 19:34 (10:15)
The opening match of the weekend inside the CERES Arena, Aarhus in northern Denmark saw the London 2012 Olympic Games silver medallists Montenegro easily beat their South American rivals as they bid to qualify for their second-ever Games after their impressive debut in England four years ago.

No-one expected Uruguay to be just one goal down at 10:9 in the 24th minutes, largely thanks to their goalkeeper Paola Santos, but after organising themselves to stop their numerous technical mistakes, they moved up the gears to take a five-goal half-time lead and outscored their opponents by 10 in the second half to confirm their 15-goal victory thanks to top-scorer Majda Mehmedovic with seven strikes, while Uruguay could only manage four from their top-scorer Daniela Scarrone.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Majda MEHMEDOVIC (MNE) – Left Wing

To view a Facebook photo gallery from this match CLICK HERE.

Romania vs Denmark 32:25 (19:13)
In front of over 3,000 partisan home fans, Romania returned to Denmark after their impressive showing at the 2016 IHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark and showed the hosts exactly what they were missing.

Romania took the lead from the beginning of the match and were ahead 5:2 after just five minutes of play, soon increased to 11:6 after 15 minutes. After Denmark coach Klavs Bruun Jørgensen called a team time out to focus his players, his side slowly moved closer on the score board, but Romania maintained a comfortable lead at the break (19:13) and were not troubled throughout the second period as both teams exchanged goals.

Eliza Buceschi made double-figures for Romania with 10 goals while Camilla Dalby and Louise Spellerberg shared top-scorer honours for Denmark with four each.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Eliza BUCESCHI (ROU) – Left Back / Centre Back

To view a Facebook photo gallery from this match CLICK HERE.

Match Day 2

Romania vs Uruguay 36:19 (17:10)
Romania sealed their passage to Rio 2016 with an easy win over Uruguay, who were never in the game, despite taking an early lead with the first strike.

Despite an aggressive defence, Romania upped their game and sped to a five-goal lead at 7:2 in the 10th minute and the difference grew to seven at the half. A 4:0 run at the beginning of the second half to make it 21:10 with 23 minutes remaining finished the contest.

Even though Romania head coach Tomas Ryde opted to rest key players including Cristina Neagu and Valentina Ardean-Elisei in anticipation of his side’s dominance, the score board did not make it clear that such stars were missing with Florina Chintoan striking nine times for his side and Paula Fynn top-scoring at the opposite end with four for the South Americans.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Florina CHINTOAN (ROU) - Pivot

To view a Facebook photo gallery from this match CLICK HERE.

Denmark vs Montenegro 22:26 (10:13)
A packed, 3,000+ CERES Arena in Aarhus was filled with excitement when Denmark took to the court for their must-win match against Montenegro.

The Danish home crowd did their best to help their team against powerful Montenegro, but the 2012 European champions seemed unaffected and the scoreboard showed a level 5:5 after 11 minutes.  But Montenegro, led by Katarina Bulatovic, who also hit the net five times, took a three0-goal advantage into the break (13:10) to silence the Danes.

In the second half Denmark came out strong and quickly closed the gap to one goal at 13:14, but Montenegro fought back and the level contest continued. With 13 minutes left of the game the score was even at 19:19 and the hosts even went ahead at 20:19, but Montenegro punished their opponents both in defence and attack as they went on an impressive 6:0 run between the 49th and 56th minute to confirm their place at Rio 2016 and knock Denmark out.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Milena RAICEVIC (MNE) – Left Back

Match Day 3

Montenegro vs Romania 23:23 (11:15)
With both teams already through tor Rio 2016, the pressure was off in terms of qualification but both teams took to the court for their last game knowing a win would mean top spot in the group.

Romania, 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 and with 10 minutes left there were still five goals separating the two teams at 22:17 in favour of Romania. But Montenegro kept fighting, going on a 6:0 run from the 50th to 59th minute to make it 22:22, despite playing four against six thanks to two two-minute suspensions.

Romania did not take advantage of the situation however, and it was all drama in the final seconds as first Patricia Vizitiu thought she had won it with a strike but Montenegro went up the other end and smashed home through Durdina Jaukovic to keep honours even, although Romania ended up finishing in first place thanks to their higher strike rate.

Jelena Despotovic scored eight for Montenegro and Florina Chintoan six for Romania to finish as top-scorer.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Jelena DESPOTOVIC (MNE) – Centre Back

To view a Facebook photo gallery from this match CLICK HERE.

Denmark vs Uruguay 38:17 (19:7)
Other than pride, Denmark, like their opponents, had little to play for in the final game in Aarhus as the hosts ended the tournament with a win, but huge disappointment after losing against Romania and Montenegro, just like their opponents.

After a strong first half where they limited to Uruguay to just seven goals (19:7), they continued with their strong defence and fast break goals to increase their advantage (22:7) five minutes in.

Uruguay continued to fight, but Denmark were always one or two steps ahead, and the final whistle brought an authoritative Danish win thanks to nine goals from Mia Rej Bidstrup, while the impressive Camila Barreiro struck eight times for the South Americans.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Camila BARREIRO (URU) – Right Back

Statistics – 2016 IHF Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament II – Aarhus, Denmark

Best Attack (Goals Scored): 91 (ROU)
Highest Amount of Shots: 137 (DEN)
Best Defence (Goals Conceded): 64 (MNE)
Most Shots Faced: 131 (URU)
Most Shots Saved: 39 (MNE)
Best Goalkeeper: Marina RAJCIC (MNE) 48% save ratio (14/29)
Top Scorer: Florina CHINTOAN (ROU) – 17
Top Assists: Anne Mette HANSEN (DEN) – 15
Top Scorer + Assists: Florina CHINTOAN (ROU) – 24

Photos: Jan Christensen