Sweden, Slovenia, Croatia and Norway were the winners of the four matches of the placement round 9-16 at the Women’s Junior World Championship on Thursday (10 July). So the host and the Norwegians fight for the ninth position on Saturday in Dugo Selo. Those teams of this placement round have a rest day on Friday, while the competitions continues with the semi-finals Denmark vs. Russia and Korea vs. Germany and the start of the placement round 5-8 tomorrow in Koprivnica.

Placement round 9-16 in Dugo Selo

Matches for the positions 13 - 16:

Brazil - Sweden 20:22 (8:12)

After a great 8:2 start - including five goals of Swedish top scorer Julia Eriksson (seven goals in total) - the Scandinavians were ahead until the end of the match. But the Brazilians recovered from their weak opening period and reduced the gap to four goals at the break and were even close to turn the match around in minute 40, when the score was 14:15. Sweden stroke back, netting in a 4:1 series, but still could not be sure to win this encounter, as three minutes before the end the Pan-American champions were back on track at 20:21. Finally the one and only goal of Joanna Lindvall decided the close intercontinental duel. Best Brazilian scorer was Giulia Guareiro with seven goals.

Portugal - Slovenia 26:28 (14:15)

Even ten goals of Mariana Lopes were not enough for Portugal to win this tight match with changing leads in the second half. In minute 12 the deal already seemed to be sealed when the Slovenians had been ahead by 9:3. But Portugal were shaken, but did not fall early. At the break the deficit was only one goal, at 17:17 the result was leveled and at 22:21 in minute 46 the Portuguese team was in lead for the first time. Everything was open until the final minutes - and at the score of 26:26, Portugal even could hope for a win or at least an extra-time. In the end a double strike of Veronika Leski and Marica Juric were the keys for the Slovenian win. Additionally the ten saves of goalkeeper Klara Hrovatic were decisive.

Placement Matches 13-16 on Saturday, 12 July in Dugo Selo:

14:00 hrs. local time:

Placement 15/16: Brazil - Portugal

16:00 hrs. local time:

Placement 13/14: Sweden - Portugal

Matches for the positions 13 - 16:

Czech Republic - Croatia 23:33 (9:16)

Like in the preliminary round duel (23:21), the Croats took the points against the Czechs, who this time were below much clearer. After their close win against Brazil in their opening match in this round, the Czechs had lost their power. Croatia were clearly dominant and had pre-decided the match after only 14 minutes when leading by 10:2. But backed by the in total 16 saves of goalkeeper Petra Kudlackova, the Czechs returned, but could not endanger the championship host at any time. The closest margin was a 19:22 in minute in minute 42 then the Croats stroke back by a decisive 6:0 series to 28:22, and at 31:21 the distance was double-figured for the first time. Best scorers were Josipa Mamic (Croatia) and Czech Kamilla Kordovska by eight goals each.

Serbia - Norway 25:39 (12:22)

After their 38:24 clash against Slovenia in their first placement round match, Norway again showed an outstanding performance in another one-sided game. Though goalkeeper Tijana Cosic saved a superb number of 16 shot, the Serbs were completely chanceless. After only eleven minutes Norway had already forged ahead to 10:3, punishing their competitor by their needle-pin counter-attacks. And latest the match was decided after a triple strike of Hannah Oftedal and a quadruple strike of Norwegian top scorer Ingvild Bakkerud (an overall of ten goals) for 22:11 right before the break. The closest gap in the second half were nine goals, finally Norway - like on Tuesday against Slovenia - were ahead by 14 goals.

Placement Matches 9-12 on Saturday 12 July in Dugo Selo:

18:00 hrs. local time:

Placement 11/12: Czech Republic - Serbia

20:00 hrs. local time:

Placement 9/10: Croatia - Norway