Spain vs. Romania 30:29 (14:13) - Placement Match 7/8

Spain managed to end their Brazil 2015 campaign with a 30:29 win against Romania which saw them finish in seventh place.

Romania recorded their best finish (eighth) since 2005 (5th), the last time they qualified for the tournament.

Up until 8:36 on the clock, the teams could not really be separated but Spain stepped up a gear as they went on a 4:0 scoring run thanks to a double strike from Francisco Arino Garcia.

With the scores at 10:8 coach Mihai Ovidiu Mihaila called a time out for Romania to try and redress the balance and his side focussed to go in at the break just 14:13 down.

Again Spain pulled ahead further on a 4:0 run to make it 19:14, ending in a two-minute suspension for Nicolae Ungureanu.

Romania could  not cope with the Spain attack and resorted t o a 4-2 and 5-1 defence to try and nullify the Spanish forwards and it worked - over the next 10 minutes Romania outscored their European counterparts 7:4, including a delightful wrist-flick from Dan Racotea (23:19).

But Spain kept up their lead just about until the end although they went close to throwing away the win.

With the clock showing less than four minutes left, Spain’s attack broke down. Arnau Garcia, who had been denied, was slow getting up and as Alexandru Bucataru in the Romanian goal went to gather the ball for the fast-break; Garcia cynically got the ball trapped in his feet to delay the attack.

He was given a two-minute suspension and Spain were panicking. A delightful kempa goal from Racotea as part of a double set of strikes, followed by a Nicusor Negru goal bought the Romanians within one at 29:30.

With Coach  Mihaila berating his team for not keeping an eye on the clock, Spain expertly killed the remaining 66 seconds - and game - first with a team time out and then with ball possession, drawing fouls and frustrating the Romanians.

Belarus vs. Sweden 33:37 (15:19) - Placement Match 5/6

Sweden finished fifth at Brazil 2015 following their 5/6 Placement Match 37:33 victory over Belarus today at the Sabiazinho in Uberlandia.

The championship holders - having won the 2013 edition in Bosnia and Herzegovina - will see the tournament as a disappointment after they crashed out against Egypt in the quarter-finals.

However, they made sure of their best-possible finish with eight first-half strikes from Pontus Zetterman (finishing top scorer of the match on 12), leading to the frustration of Viachaslau Saldatsenka in the Belarus saying some choice words to himself every time the ball hit the back of his net.

Half-time came with Sweden four up and when Simon Jeppsson crashed home a strike to make it 21:16 Belarus coach Aleh Shareika had seen enough and called a time out, just four minutes into the half.

His side went on a 4:0 scoring run soon after thanks to a double from Artsiom Kulak, but Sweden did not take flight of their senses, keeping calm and seeing the game out 37:33.

One thing that did take flight though was a ‘Beija Flor’ bird - Humming Bird - who had decided that it wanted to watch some international handball and was an avid spectator for the second half - even getting close to the action on court.

One player who was also having their first taste of a Men’s Junior World Championships was Sweden’s Lukas Nilsson, promoted from the U10 squad by Staffan Olsson to be in Brazil.

“It’s nice to get a victory, and we showed the world we could play for medals,” he said. “But we lost to Egypt and we had to do the best in this situation [by beating Belarus].

“I have been carrying the bags and balls,” he said about this introduction to the older squad.

“They have been nice to me, it has been a very exciting experience for me playing in a more physical game and it was very nice to come here and play in Brazil.”