Women’s Handball Team Qualify for World Championships

The Hungarian women’s handball team started well and led by eight goals against Iceland in the second leg of the World Championship qualifier in Érd, but after Katrin Klujber’s sending off, the opponents closed the gap to three goals by half-time. Vladimir Golovin’s side eventually won by six goals, 34-28, and qualified for the World Championship, co-hosted by Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

A great first four minutes for the home team, who went 4-1 up with good defence, ball-winning and quick goals. The Hungarians were also effective against an upright defensive wall and increased their lead. In the final quarter of Saturday’s game, Iceland had a 7-1 run, which national captain Vladimir Golovin said was mostly his fault because he should have made more substitutions.

Katrin Klujber led a 5-0 run to put Hungary 17-9 up, but Iceland responded with a 5-0 run before the break, and the only right wing Klujber in the frame was given a red card for a penalty shot to the opponent’s goalkeeper (17-14).

The eighth game between the two national teams was the eighth success for Hungary.

The tournament taking place from 30 November to 17 December, will be the 26th Women’s World Championship in the sport and the 24th in which Hungary will participate. Matches will be played in Herning, Kolding, Oslo, Trondheim, Malmö and Gothenburg. The world champion will qualify for next summer’s Olympics in Paris, while the 2nd-7th place finishers will play a qualifying round.

There are 29 participants in the 32-team world championship:
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Montenegro, Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Senegal, Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Korea Republic, Chile, Paraguay

Via M4Sport, Featured Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás