Coach: Bojan Voglar

 

Key Players: Maja Vojnovic (Goalkeeper), Hana Vucko (Left Back), Anika Strnad (Centre Back)

 

Qualification for Hungary 2018: European qualification tournaments – Group 6 winners

 

History in Tournament: 1977-95: DNQ, 1997: 13th, 1999-2005: DNQ, 2008: 15th, 2010-2012: DNQ, 2014: 14th, 2016: DNQ

 

Overview

 

Slovenia finished on top of Group 6 in the European qualification tournament for the 2018 IHF Women’s Junior (U20) World Championship. They defeated Faroe Islands 28:24 and then went on to beat Turkey 29:27. Their top scorer was 19-year-old centre back Anika Strnad with 13 goals. With 27 goals, she was also one of the highest scorers for the Central European nation at the 2016 Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship.

 

20-year-old goalkeeper Maja Vojnovic is an indispensable member of Bojan Voglar’s squad. She ended the Slovakia 2016 U18 World Championship with a 31% save rate and her performances usually help a Slovenia team whose biggest strength – according to their coach – is their defence: “Our stronger spot is our defence, while our weakest may be the right side of the attack.”

 

Left back Hana Vucko, who was also part of the team at Slovakia 2018 and scored 23 goals, is one of Slovenia’s most skilled athletes. She played an important role in the match versus Turkey to qualify for the Junior World Championship, where she scored five goals – some of them in crucial moments of the game.

 

“Our group at Hungary 2018 is very difficult, but we will try to do our best,” says coach Bojan Voglar. In a geographically mixed Group B, Slovenia will meet two European teams – Russia and Iceland –, two Asian teams – Republic of Korea and People’s Republic of China – and Chile, from Pan America.

 

To gear up for Hungary 2018, Slovenia had three training camps of four or five days and organised several international friendly matches. Voglar expects that practice to help them achieve their goal, which is “to go into the main round, we wish to be among the top 16 teams at this World Championship.”

 

Follow the official Slovenian Federation on their website, on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

 

Group at Hungary 2018

Group B: Russia, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, People’s Republic of China, Chile and Iceland

 

Games at Hungary 2018
All times local

Monday 2 July: SLO-CHI (20:00)
Tuesday 3 July: ISL-SLO (20:00)
Thursday 5 July: KOR-SLO (12:00)
Friday 6 July: SLO-RUS (18:00)
Sunday 8 July: SLO-CHN (12:00)

 

IHF & World Championship social media channels

Follow the Hungary 2018 IHF Women’s Junior (U20) World Championship on our website, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, as well as on the official event website and Facebook page. 

 

Photo: Slovenia Handball Federation