Coach: Beata Bohus
Key Players: Tamara Pal (centre back), Csenge Kuczora (left back)
Qualification for Poland 2018: Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2017 – 3rd place
History in Tournament: 2006-08: DNQ, 2010: 11th, 2012: 5th, 2014: 15th, 2016: 5th
Overview:
“A very good work is going on at the clubs; the players are very skilled and they are in good shape, the club coaches are doing a really great job,” says women’s youth Hungary coach Beata Bohus.
And that is the reason why the athletes have continued improving after their 3rd place at last year’s European Championship and their gold medal at the Women’s European Youth Olympic Festival. “The base of this team will take part in the World Championship
– these girls have developed a lot since then.”
After finishing on top of Group A, Hungary defeated Denmark 32:24 in the semi-finals of the European Youth Olympic Festival they hosted in Gyor in July 2017. They completed their astonishing
campaign with a solid 30:23 victory over Romania.
In the following month, no one were surprised by their bronze at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO, which took place in Michalovce, Slovakia, as they showed once again a compact defence and a strong
attack led by Tamara Pal, who was voted All-star Centre Back of the competition. Even when Norway stopped them in the semi-finals (21:26), they managed to recover and climbed the podium thanks to an impressive 32:18 win over France.
Gyori Audi ETO KC playmaker Tamara Pal is the most outstanding player in Hungary’s squad. She was the top scorer of the continental Olympic Festival with a superb tally of 47 goals in five
matches. Afterwards, she was the highest scorer of the team at the U17 EURO with 36 goals. The 19-year-old centre back has been part of the 2017/2018 and 2016/2017 Champions League gold medallists squad.
Backs Sara Afentaler, Fanni Szilovics and Kincso Gerhath and line player Emöke Varga are also gaining valuable experience at Gyori Audi ETO KC. For coach Beata Bohus, another key player is
the 20-year-old left back Greta Kacsor, who plays her club handball for Vaci NKSE. Last year, she scored 25 goals at the Olympic Festival and 21 at the EHF EURO.
At the Poland 2018 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship, Hungary will face three European teams (Denmark, Sweden and Croatia), representatives from Africa (Egypt) and Pan America (Chile).
“We could have been in a tougher group. But I’m sure we will have interesting matches because teams from other handball cultures can cause surprises,” says coach Bohus.
To get ready for the World Championship, Hungary participated in an international friendly tournament, competing with the youth national teams of Romania, France and Russia. Then they met the
Netherlands and Slovakia in the last two preparation matches.
“If we succeed in getting into the top four, we will be happy and satisfied, but we have to be among the top eight teams first, and that won’t be easy,” concludes the 47-year-old coach – a
former Hungary line player who claimed the silver medal at the Croatia 2003 World Championship.
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: CHI-HUN (18:00)
Friday 10 August: HUN-CRO
(10:00)
Saturday 11 August: EGY-HUN (18:00)
Monday 13 August: HUN-DEN (14:00)
IHF and
World Championship social media
Follow the 2018 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship on the IHF website, on the IHF Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram
and YouTube channels, as well as on the official event website, Facebook and Twitter channels.
Photo: Hungarian Handball Federation