It took only
two match days, before the Women’s Olympic Qualification tournament in Lyon,
France, had been decided: After their each second victories host France and
Montenegro have qualified for the Olympics. Whilst France booked the Olympic
ticket for the fourth straight time since 2000, Montenegro is the first time
under the five Olympic rings.
Romania vs. Montenegro 23:34 (13:17)
Historic day
for Montenegro: Two weeks after the nearly identical team has won the EHF
Champions League with Buducnost Podgorica now they made their way to
London. After beating Japan on Match Day 1, the victory against Romania
meant the first ever qualification for an Olympic Handball Tournament for the
small Balkan country.
Again back
court aces Bojana Popovic and Katarina Bulatovic were the keys to success,
scoring 13 goals in total. Five Bulatovic goals paved the way to the 12:5 lead
after only 16 minutes and though the Romanians could reduce the gap to four
goals at the break, they were chanceless in the second half. It took only 38
minutes when the game was decided and the Romanian dream of reaching the
Olympic Games at the score of 24:15. Again goalkeeper Sonja Barjaktarovic stood
like a wall with 15 saves – and latest in the middle of the second half the
Romanian resistance was broken – and the decisive game ended as a disaster for
the team of Radu Voina, whilst the Montenegro team jumped for joy.
Japan vs. France 17:30 (7:13)
Easy work for
France to book their ticket to London: After the more decisive victory against
Romania on Friday the host did not have any problems to overrun Japan. After 24
minutes the winner was already known when the score was 12:3. Though Nippon’s
girls had a strong period before the break, France was in full control and
extended the gap to ten goals at 20:10 for the first time. So the French team –
cheered by 4200 spectators – could save powers for the final game for the
tournament victory against Montenegro. Paule Baudoin was the top scorer with
seven goals for an again well-balanced team with an again superb goalkeeper:
Cleopatre Darleux saved 19 Japanese shots.
Results of Day 1:
Montenegro vs.
Japan 30:24 (14:13)
France vs.
Romania 24:19 (12:9)
Match schedule day 3, 27 May:
14:15: Romania
vs. Japan
16:30: France
vs. Montenegro