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Date: 7/14/2018
 

The last day of the 2018 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship saw France beat Romania for seventh place, while the Netherlands made history by beating Denmark in their fifth-place play-off – the second time the two teams met in Debrecen after their tight Preliminary Group match.

Saturday 14 July

Placement 5/6 Match: Netherlands vs Denmark 32:28 (16:14)
The Netherlands won both halves of handball 16:14 to make their own little bit of history - but one which could prove to be even more important in the future.

The history they made was significant. No higher than sixth have the Netherlands finished at an IHF Women's Junior World Championship previously and that team - back in 2010 in Korea - was the golden generation of Estavana Polman, Martine Smeets, Jessy Kramer, Danick Snelder and Debbie Bont et al.

Dutch coach Robert Nijdam had said before the game they he didn't "...like to play against history - we play our own game,” and his side did against a Danish team they had lost to by one goal in the preliminary round.

Having lost Maxime Drent yesterday - she took her place on the bench complete with crutches such is the team spirit in the orange camp - Nijdam relied on the rest of his team to see them through, but it was tough opening quarter as Denmark led 9:7, but thanks to the 12-goal Merel Freriks, they went on a 5:0 run with Freriks scoring three, to go 12:9 up and see the half out by two, 16:14.

In contrast to the first quarter, the opening 15 minutes of the second half saw Denmark score just three times while their Dutch opponents scored eight times, leading to a seven-goal lead (24:17). Denmark knew their time was up already, despite coming within three (28:25) with six minutes left.

Sixth place overall was a disappointment for the Danes who were defending champions of this age group and this generation who had finished runners-up at the 2016 IHF Women's Youth World Championship.

Laura Cecilie Jensen also scored double figures in the game like Freriks, with 10 goals for Denmark.

Placement 7/8 Match: France vs Romania 30:24 (16:11)
As France went on a 4:0 run to take a four-goal lead in the 17th minute, the game appeared to already be up for Sorina-Maria Tirca and her Romanian side as coach Gheorghe Tadici took his first time out (16:53 on the clock).

A Mathilde Plotton seven-metre strike on the half-time buzzer had taken that lead to five (16:11) at the break and it stayed around that difference until the end as France improved their 13th place at the last IHF Women’s Junior World Championship held in 2016 in Slovakia.

“It’s the end of the story…an end of a chapter,” said French coach Eric Baradat after the match to IHF.info. “This group was very special with a lot of character – individually and as a group. We arrived here without left back Charlotte Kieffer and Soukeina Sagna, our playmaker – two very important players who I had last year when we won the U19 EURO.

“It was very important for us as humans to finish this chapter with a positive attitude and positive feeling between us. Now another generation - from 2000-01 - arrive with a lot of very interesting players, but this generation here in Hungary is really special.”

While discussing the game, Baradat took time to reflect on the tournament as a whole.

“The organisation has been at a top level from the Hungarian Federation and the IHF,” he said. “While there may not have been two or three star players which other championships have had, maybe Noemi Hafra from Hungary is one, there are a lot of very good players here.

“Finally, the refereeing level is very good for a junior women’s championship and we have very good referees here - it’s important to say it.”

His right wing Melvine Deba was also happy they could end with a victory. “We won in the last game so that’s the best ending we could have for what happened,” said the Issy Paris player.

“Usually I consider if my team doesn’t win, I don’t win, but from a personal development point of view I think I brought some kind of things - we won all six of our group matches so it means we were quite good – each player.

“But, looking back, when we had to keep a cold head against Norway (in the quarter-finals) we couldn’t do it. We led by five we had to keep it and we didn’t do it. Of course, we all improved a little bit here and I think with that defeat we will take experience and be a great thing for the future.”

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