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News Details

Date: 8/19/2018
 

Republic of Korea opened the medal matches at the 2018 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship with a victory over Sweden that earned the Asian champions third place on the final ranking. The win comes just over one month after the Under 20 team claimed the bronze medal at the 2018 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in Hungary, and two years after the previous generation of Under 18 players took bronze at Slovakia 2016.

 

Bronze-medal match: Republic of Korea vs Sweden 34:27 (17:14)

 

Two years ago, at Slovakia 2016, Republic of Korea won the bronze medal against Norway in a close encounter that ended with a two-goal score line in favour of the Asian side. At Poland 2018, Korea enjoyed a more comfortable victory, as they controlled the match from the first whistle to the last.

 

The Asian champions scored the opening goal and never let Sweden claim the upper hand, taking a three-goal lead into the break and reaching an advantage of seven goals for the first time in the 40th minute, 23:16. Sweden are known for their ability with fast breaks, but Korea outclassed their opponents in this respect, scoring numerous counter attack goals to create the lead.

 

For both sides, offence was the highlight of the match, as neither played a particularly strong defensive game. Korea coach Seong Ok Oh replaced her number one goalkeeper Dahee Yeo after 12 minutes, before she returned to the court in the second half. At the other end of the court, Korea’s fast footwork and break-through goals proved the key weapon.

 

Sweden staged something of a comeback after the Asian side created the first seven-goal distance, fighting their way back to 20:25 with 15 minutes left on the clock, at which point coach Niklas Harris started taking out his keeper in order to attack seven-on-six. The high-risk tactic resulted in several goals into Sweden’s empty net, and Korea maintained control through to the end with little threat to their advantage.


“To win with such a team you have to give 100% of yourself. I guess we gave 90% today. We are very tired after a long tournament,” said Sweden coach Harris. “We were prepared really well. We played against them three weeks ago. They are a great team. They lost only one game during this tournament. It is a great success for us. We are in top four in the world!”

 

Players of the match:
Republic of Korea: Yedam Oh
Sweden: Malin Sandberg

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