Jesper Jensen’s Denmark side made it three wins out of three to end their preliminary Group A campaign in top spot, with a perfect record and four points to take through to the main round.

Their 35:23 victory over the Republic of Korea on Monday night was their toughest test yet after matches against Congo and Tunisia but they will be tested further when they go up against Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic in the main round, starting on Wednesday – their first European opponents at Spain 2021.

GROUP F
Denmark vs Republic of Korea 35:23 (19:14)

Anne Mette Hansen won the battle of Gyor teammates, as she helped her Denmark side to a win over Ryu Eun-hee’s Republic of Korea on the penultimate day of preliminary round action in Granollers.

A Jang In-ik time-out after just 14 minutes highlighted the issues his Korea side faced early on (3:8) which had seen them net just twice in nine minutes and four times in the first 15 minutes.

Eun-hee had tried her best to keep the team in touch, going on her own personal scoring run (4:0) to help bring the game within two (10:12, 22 minute, 12:14, 24th minute) but that was the nearest her side came again as Denmark pushed up a gear to take a 19:14 half-time lead.

Jensen had said the squad rotation seen in the previous two games would finish with this game and this was evidenced no clearer than Sandra Toft playing the entire game, with Althea Reinhardt never taking her tracksuit top off. 

With just under 15 minutes left, Emma Friis opened the gap to 10 (28:18) for the Danes on another fast-break of which they scored from eight times in nine attempts – echoing what was once Korea’s forte (one out of two in the match) when these two teams dominated the women’s handball world in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.

Jensen introduced an extra player, 7 vs 6, in attack in the closing quarter to see off any Korean tactical change and in the end, their 12-goal victory was their biggest ever against their opponents, beating their 1998 friendly victory of 32:21.

hummel Player of the Match: Laerke Pedersen, Denmark