World Championship, women’s handball: Romania wins group A as Spain and France draw

The final shot on Thursday night was highly crucial for Group A: Carmen Martin’s penalty levelled the score at 25-25 in the match Spain versus France. Romania could celebrate too: thanks to this result, the 2015 World Championship bronze medallists are already confirmed winner of the group in Trier. Romania had defeated Angola and thus remain unbeaten. Before, Slovenia had qualified for the last sixteen by beating Paraguay, germanyhandball2017.com informs.

Prior to the last round, when Romania will face France and Spain lock horns with Slovenia, Romania have 8-0 points on their account, Slovenia 6-2, France and Spain 5-3. Angola and Paraguay are both on zero before their direct encounter on Friday.

IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa was impressed by the matches and the atmosphere in Trier: “To see so many international fan groups and a perfect organisation makes me feel extremely happy. Germany know how to organise events like this.”

Romania took revenge for the defeat against Angola at the Rio Olympic Games and remain unbeaten after four rounds. But the victory against the bravely fighting African champions was extremely hard-earned. Thanks to the great saves of goalkeeper Cristina Blanco, Angola used the first 20 minutes to their advantage, leading by four at 12-8. “Angola had nothing to lose after their elimination, and they showed their skills and put enormous pressure on us. We needed to fight truly hard to win this match,” said Spanish-born Romania coach Ambros Martin.

Though his side managed to equalise at 13-13 after four straight goals, Angola stood strong until the very end. “This was by far our best match here in Germany,” said Morten Soubak, Danish-born coach of Angola. His team even managed to take another two-goal lead at 21-19. “But then came a player you might know,” Soubak was joking: “Cristina Neagu”.

The current IHF World Handball Player of the Year scored the last four goals for Romania to turn the match around from 23:23 to the final score of 27-24. Before, Romania’s goalkeeper Yuliya Dumanska had saved many important shots. “We are happy with this good result after a performance, which was not so good,” said Romanian left back Eliza Buceschi (photo), adding: “We did not expect to have four victories after four rounds and that we would have secured the first position in this tough group already before the final match against France.”

Group A results:

Spain vs. France 25-25

Romania vs. Angola 27-24

Paraguay vs. Slovenia 22-28