Group A

After a successful but rather easy going start with Armenia, Kosovo got its second victory at the tournament after defeating Australia.

Kosovo won the math 31:24 after leading in the first half 16:12 and being in command for most of the game.

The second victory in a row for the host nation means that they are now in the lead in their group and their match up with Faroe Islands will be decisive for the group winner.

Kreshnik Krasniqi was the best scorer for the winning team for the second game in a row with 8 goals.

Timothy Anderson on the other hand scored nine times for Australia.

Armenia suffered another defeat while Faroe Islands, after drawing with Australia in the first match, scored their first victory in the tournament in a remarkable fashion.

Faroe Islands did not allow more than four goals to Armenians in the first half, while scoring 27 of their own and proving that it will be their match with Kosovo or Australia’s duel with the host nation that will determine final ranking in the group A.

Faroe Islands continued to play much the same in the second half of the match as well, winning at the end 61:9, the largest victory margin so far in the tournament.

 

Group B

Cameroon managed second victory of the tournament and thus proved their role as the favourites in Group B. After an easy encounter with Albania on Day 1, Cameroon today beat Great Britain and now they are in pole position in Group B.

First half of this encounter was a tightly-ran affair and it ended 9:9. The match, to the surprise of some of the spectators, continued to be a low scoring game, but Cameroon slowly but surely managed to create a lead and then maintained it all the way to the end.

The African representative won 23 to 16 at the end and will need a victory versus Estonia if they want a clean record in the Group stage.

Edgar Sebastian had six goals for Great Britain, on the other hand Cameroon were lead by Junior Ngabou who netted seven times. 

After heart breaking defeat from Great Britain, Estonia recorded their first victory versus Albania and they will try to get back on track from here onwards.

Estonians were the clear favorites in this duel and wasted no time to prove that. The team from Eastern Europe ended the first half of the match with a 20:6 lead.

Albania, by now marked by everyone as the clear outsider in Group B, did not make much of effort to come back in the second half, thus enabling Estonia to score a comfortable victory. Final result of the match 12:46.

 

Group C

After their defeat against Malta in one of the two matches that ended with a single goal difference on Day 1 of the tournament, China recorded their first victory by beating Ireland.

Much like versus Malta, Chinese players were evenly matched in the first half which ended 14:14.

However, Irish players did not have what it takes to hold on all the way to the end of the match, and it was in the last minutes that China stretched the lead and managed to hold on to it, although perhaps not as easily as the final result might suggest.

The match ended at 29:35 with Zhen Liu being China’s top scorer with 10 goals. Patrick McAuley netted 11 times for Ireland, now enough for the first victory of his team.

Moldova is the second team to have scored back to back victories in Group D and it is now clear that their duel with China will be decisive about the group winner.

In their second match, Moldova beat Malta in a match totally dominated by the Eastern Europeans.

First half of the match ended 10:24 and it was clear who was going to be the winner. Malta deserved all the credit for not giving up entirely in the second half of the match, but they were clearly outclassed.

Another 30 minutes of handball were played and Moldova ended the match with a 47:23 victory.

Alex DiPilato scored nine times for Malta being the top scorer of the match. Alexandr Lupasco scored 6 goals for Moldova.

 

Group D

Uruguay had an easy going match versus Andorra on Day 1, but they proved their class on Day 2 by beating another European team, Bulgaria.

Uruguay made another good display of handball and after leading in the first half 14:12, they just maintained their pace, especially in offense and managed to create a margin which helped them finish the game with ease and won at a final result of 28:20.

Alejandro Velszco scored 10 goals for the winning team. Nikolay Neychev and Svetlin Dimitrov scored four goals each for Bulgaria.

Latvia, much to the expectance of everyone, scored their second straight victory and put themselves on equal points with Uruguay. It is now known that their direct encounter with the South American team will decide the winner of Group D.

Latvia beat Andorra 41:13. The first half of the match ended at 4:7 in favour of the Latvians who had no trouble whatsoever finishing the game which took place in Gjakova.

Andorra will battle with Bulgaria for the first points of this tournament in the last match in the group phase.

For full results and tables after Day 2 please visit:

http://www.kosovahandball.info/sq/K2015