Coach: Niklas Harris
Key Players: Isabelle
Andersson (Left Back), Nina Dano (Right Back)
Qualification for Poland 2018: 2017 Women’s U17 European Championship, Michalovce (SVK) – 9th
place
History in Tournament: 2006-08: DNQ, 2010: 1st, 2012: 6th, 2014: 9th, 2016: 7th
Overview
A difference of only one goal in
comparison with France deprived Sweden from advancing to the main round of the
Women’s U17 European Championship organised by Slovakia last year. As a
consequence, they couldn’t aspire to anything higher than 9th place, which they
easily claimed.
Even when their expectations were
much higher, Sweden could see the bright side: they booked a spot at the Poland
2018 Women’s Youth World Championship and left with positive experiences on the
court. Left back Isabelle Andersson guided the team’s defence solidly and for
her astonishing performance she was awarded Best Defender of the EURO. But it’s
not only her ability to defend what makes her a promising player: the
Sparvagens HF athlete recorded a remarkable 40-goal tally.
18-year-old right back Nina Dano was
the second top scorer of the continental tournament with 49 goals. At her club
Torslanda HK she has been leaving a good impression for the last three years –
in 2015 she was voted Best Player of the Swedish Cup.
The head coach of Sweden’s women’s
senior team, Henrik Signell, has mentioned Andersson and Dano as two players
with an invaluable potential and started to work with them for the future,
along with line player Alma Skretting (HK Ankaret) and backs Malin Sandberg
(Onnereds HK) and Cornelia Dahlstrom (Nacka HK), who will also play at Poland 2018.
“There are some players in whom we
firmly believe for tomorrow,” announced Signell. “In a long-term vision it’s
very important for our national team to start working with our talents at a
young age.”
In the preliminary round of the IHF
Women’s Youth World Championship, the Swedes will have to face Hungary,
Denmark, Croatia, Egypt and Sweden in Group B. “It’s a challenging group for us,”
says Sweden coach Niklas Harris. “The European teams are strong and both Egypt
and Chile have had good results lately. I would say this is one of the toughest
groups.”
For the youth team’s trainer,
their most notable strength is the “offensive play and the pressure we can create
there.” On the other side, he points out as a flaw that they “don’t have the
same international experience as other teams.”
Sweden had a training camp at home
at the end of May. And they will continue preparing until the end of July, when
the Scandinavian Open takes place from 27 to 29. Their opponents in the
friendly tournament will be Norway, Denmark and Korea.
“Our main goal is to advance from
the group stage and make it to the eight-finals. From there we want to fight
for the victory in each game,” asserts Harris.
Follow the Swedish Federation on their website, on Facebook,
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or Instagram.
Group at Poland 2018
Group B: Hungary, Denmark, Egypt,
Sweden, Chile, Croatia
Games at Poland 2018
All times local
Tuesday 7 August: HUN-SWE (16:00)
Wednesday 8 August: SWE-DEN (16:00)
Friday 10 August: SWE-CHI
(14:00)
Saturday 11 August: CRO-SWE (20:00)
Monday 13 August: EGY-SWE (12:00)
IHF & World Championship Social Media
Follow the Poland 2018 IHF Women’s
Youth World Championship on our website,
on IHF Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
and YouTube,
as well as on the official event website, Facebook
and Twitter
channels.
Photos:
Swedish Handball Federation/Christoffer Borg Mattisson