The 2018 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship final will be contested by two sides with very different history in the competition. While Russia have won the trophy twice, including at the previous edition in Slovakia in 2016, Hungary have never taken a medal at the Women’s Youth World Championship.

 

Prior to the final, Sweden and 2016 Youth World Championship bronze medallists Republic of Korea will fight for the bronze medal.

 

All matches will be played in Hall Legionow, Kielce and live streamed here.

 

Final: Hungary vs Russia – Sunday August 19, 18:00 local time

 

Hungary reach the Poland 2018 final with a perfect record of not only victories, but having hardly faced a challenge from any opponent. The closest any team has come to beating the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2017 bronze medallists is three goals, as Denmark lost the Round 5 Group B clash versus Hungary 25:28.

 

Hungary won their semi-final against Republic of Korea with a comfortable five-goal margin, 34:29, after breezing through the eighth-final (36:22 versus Austria) and quarter-final (33:20 versus Spain). They topped Group B with the maximum points following five straight wins, and now only two-time champions Russia stand in the way of Hungary’s first ever Women’s Youth World Championship title.

 

“We are in the final and it is a great feeling. We played a very good match. First of all, in each of their previous matches, Korea always scored over 30 goals, and this time we did not let them do it. I think it was the key to victory,” said Hungary assistant coach Peter Woth after the match.

 

Hungary have never won a medal at the Youth World Championship and secured their first with the semi-final victory. However, the team are focused on only the trophy – and have shown that goal is justified with their performances at Poland 2018. If they take the gold medal on Sunday evening, it will be the second maiden World Championship title of the summer for Hungary, following the Junior squad’s history-making performance in Debrecen in July.

 

“We want to follow them and win the final. It helps us,” said line player Armilla Simon regarding the Under 20 team’s world title. “They follow us on the live videos and the streaming and help us when they can.”

 

Russia also bring a record of only wins at Poland 2018 into the final, after topping Group C, then beating Tunisia, Denmark and Sweden on the path to the gold-medal match. A key strength for the defending champions will be goalkeeper Anna Vereshchek, who enters the final as the top-ranked goalkeeper at Poland 2018, with a 47% save rate in eight matches. If Russia win the trophy, it will be their fourth medal at the Women’s Youth World Championship, after a silver in 2012 and gold in 2008 and 2016.

 

Bronze-medal match: Republic of Korea vs Sweden – Sunday August 19, 15:30 local time

 

Just like Russia, Republic of Korea will battle for the same medal they did at the 2016 Youth World Championship. On that occasion, Korea overcame Norway by two goals to claim the bronze. Now, they will meet another Scandinavian side in the 3/4 play-off, hoping to win their second consecutive bronze medal in this event – and the second this summer after the Under 20 team celebrated third place at Hungary 2018.

 

For Sweden, it is the first medal match at the Women’s Youth World Championship since 2010, when they celebrated the title. That trophy represents their only top-four finish at the event.