The last day of the preliminary round saw some very exciting matches for the last spots in the main round. As of now, all groups for the next phase of the tournament are established. The composition is the following:

Main Round Group 1: GER, MNE, DEN, HUN, ROU, ANG
Main Round Group 2: FRA, CRO, ESP, KOR, BRA, ARG
Placement Round Group 1: KAZ, MKD, ALG, ISL
Placement Round Group 2: TPE, SLO, JPN, AUS

Please find below a summary of the last matches of the preliminary round.

Group A
GER-HUN 35 : 21 (17:12)
Germany will take four points to the main round after securing the first place in Group A with a comfortable win over Hungary. The
opponent had nothing to lose in this match after already securing a spot for the second phase of the championship two days ago, which was the main reason why head coach Kalman Roth took the opportunity give some rest to few of his key players. Hungary will enter the main round with two points.

Germany had everything under control in the first 15 minutes, easily taking a four-(6:2) and then a five-goal lead (8:3). The Hungarian team was playing with no pressure but with lots of technical mistakes and Germany knew how to make use of these.

Everything seemed like a routine for the German players in the second half and the victory was never in danger. Even with the reserve
players, Germany had no problem to increase the lead and won with the biggest margin in this group.

ROU-SLO 25 : 20 (9:11)
Romania took third place in Group A and also a spot in the main round thanks to the outstanding performance by its goalkeeper Andrea Nica in the second half and only secured the victory during the last five minutes of the match. Romania had a bad start, but finished with joy.

Not giving up hope to play the main round, Slovenia entered the match with greatmotivation. Romania was under shock after Slovenia taking a 6:0 lead in the first ten minutes and scored for the first time on 11th minute. The comeback came slowly, but as the first half was coming to an end, they found their rhythm. Before the break, Slovenia's lead had been reduced to only two goals.

Romania levelled the score for the first time on 34th minute (12:12) and finally took the lead six minutes later (15:14) when being
stronger in defense. Only for a moment, cause Slovenia was not giving up. Goalkeeper Nica made the difference and was Romania's
saviour. Slovenia missed so many clear shots, including two penalties, but on the other side Maja Soberl was also at her best. Things got clear in the last five minutes, when Romania scored five times in a row.

Group B
ANG-KAZ 28 : 12 (15:6)
Angola secured their place in the main round after beating Kazakhstan with 28:12 in the last match of Group B in Gevgelija. The players of Angola started their game very efficiently and soon led 8:0. Kazakhstan scored their first goal only after 13 minutes and committed many mistakes in attack. After 32 minutes Angola had a 10-goal advantage. After the first fifteen minutes of the second half Angola led 23:9. During the next 10 minutes both teams scored only one goal. During the last five minutes of the match both coaches gave a chance to the players on the bench. Best scorer of the game was Marisa Varela with 6 goals for which she only needed 6 shots.

DEN-MNE 29 : 29 (21:15)
Montenergo reached the second phase of the tournament without a single defeat after drawing 29:29 with current World Champions Denmark.

After 10 minutes Denmark led 9:3 which made Montenegro's coach Kolakovic take an early time-out. Montenegro then took control and scored four goals in a row. In this period Biljana Pavicecic scored three goals but later had to leave the court due to a knee injury.
Towards the end of the first half Denmark played a very strong attack and their captian Dalby scored 8 goals (3 by 7m).

After 42 minutes Montenegro leveled the score to 23:23. With five players on the field, Montenegro scored one goal and took the lead for the first time in the game. In the last two minutes, when Denmark had a two-goal advantage (29:27) Montenegro played a very hard defense and Knezevic scored two goals to 29:28, then Jovovic to 29:29, with only 20 seconds from the end.

In the last attack of the game Denmark made a technical mistake but time was to short for Montenegro to turn the result of the match upside down.

Group C
KOR-CRO 29 : 29 (11:15)
Croatia missed their chance to win the game versus Korea, mainly caused by a bad performance in the last minutes, although they
were leading with two goals. Croatia led 28:26, but missed several chances to score, and when two players had got a 2-minute suspension Korea caught up.

Croatia played better in the first half and led throughout the whole thirty minutes. Things changed in the second half when Korea
played very aggressively in defense, and Croatia lacked organisation and looked too relaxed. Korea scored easily and the score "close" until the very end.

In minute 45 Sandra Bosnjak was sent off after her third 2-minute suspension, and in minute 58 Milanovic Litre also got a red card. With this problems Croatia finally could not stay the pace.

BRA-MKD 27 : 25 (11:13)
Host Macedonia didn't manage to secure a place in the main round after Brazil won their last game in the group with 27:25. Brazil will therefore stay in Ohrid, and Macedonia from Monday on will play in the placement round in Gevgelija.

During the game both teams made many mistakes and the score switched many times. The winner was only decided in last minutes
of the game.

The start of the game belonged to Macedonia, and the home team led with four goals. But the young Macedonian girls couldn't
persist this pace. Brazil netted a series of goals to find their way back and at the end of the first half they were just two goals
behind.

In the second half Brazil entered the game more aggressively in defense. Showing this kind of tempo Brazil realised a lead of four
goals. Macedonia caught up but cut their rivals' lead by one goal with 20 seconds from the end.

Group D
TPE-ARG 22 : 25 (9:12)
After a very tough start and both teams giving all they had, for almost 15 minutes in the first half both teams played with a lot of
mistakes and the result was corresponding. Then the tall Argentine players started to play with improved defense tactics reach a 12:9 half-time lead. Argentina, in the second half-time, went ahead with even 7 goals, but the final result was 25:22. In the last 5 minutes the Asian players tried pressing, which resulted in decreasing their defeat by 2 points. But the strong Argentines managed to achieve two more goals and they ended this match. With this victory Argentina came in third place in Group D, and Chinese Taipei will stay in Vinica.

ESP-FRA 20 : 20 (12:10)
It took 6 days for the people in Vinica to see a match full of excitement. A 2-goal lead and the support from the spectators didn't
help Spain at all. The first half-time ended 12:10 for Spain. The real battle in Vinica's sport hall was in the second half time which resulted in a draw. Pena Abaurea was the best player in the Spanish team with 5 goals scored. French player Deroin managed to net 7. With this draw both teams take 3 points to Ohrid, while Argentina will start the second phase without points.