Four more teams were added to the main round at the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, after securing their berths by clinching their second win in the competition in Groups G and H.

Switzerland and Spain from Group G and Czechia and Germany from Group H were the teams progressing in the competition, while Romania, Egypt, Iceland and Guinea are heading to the President’s Cup, conceding two losses in two matches.

GROUP G

• Switzerland vs Egypt 28:19 (11:7)
• Romania vs Spain 20:25 (11:13)

GROUP H

• Czechia vs Guinea 32:13 (17:5)
• Iceland vs Germany 26:31 (15:14)

What happened: An 8:1 run to start the second half saw Switzerland secure their second win at the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, this time against Egypt. The European side struggled in the first 15 minutes of the first half, but then bounced back, as backs Noelle Osterwalder and Nora Emmenegger combined for 13  goals to deliver Switzerland one of their largest-ever wins in the competition, at their second appearance. This also puts the European side into the main round, with their second win in two matches. On the other hand, Egypt are as good as out, after conceding large losses against Spain and Switzerland, making a berth to the main round, where they ended up two years ago, at North Macedonia 2022, impossible to clinch.

At North Macedonia 2022, Romania finished 14th, tying their worst-ever finish at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship. This time around, the European side, winners of the world title in 2014, conceded their second loss of the edition, 20:25, against Spain, and cannot finish higher than the 17th place, which is their worst-ever placement. Romania could only stay close to their opponents for the first 25 minutes, collapsing in the start of the second half, when Spain had a 5:0 run, to jump to a seven-goal lead, which they managed until the end of the match, when they sealed the two points.

In Group H, Czechia and Germany secured their main round berths, after delivering their second win in as many matches. Czechia are one of the dark horses in the competition, with two wins in double digits, after the 28:17 win against Iceland in the previous match. They dominated the match against Guinea throughout all the 60 minutes, with all of their outfield players scoring at least one goal and limiting the African side to only five goals, cruising in the end to a 32:13 win and sealing a main round berth.

However, Germany had to sweat against Iceland, which delivered a much improved performance from the previous one, an 11-goal loss against Czechia. Iceland led by as many as five goals, 14:9, in the first half, but eventually slowed down. They still held a two-goal lead, 23:21, with 15 minutes to go, but Germany’s Marlene Tucholke and Jana Walther both had six goals to lift their side to a 31:26 win.

Stat of the day: 19 – Czechia’s 32:13 win against Guinea, a 19-goal win, was their biggest in history at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship

What’s next: Nine main round berths have been already delivered, with seven more to be awarded. For Czechia and Germany (Group H) and Switzerland and Spain (Group G), their head-to-head match on Saturday will decide which team starts the next phase of the competition with two points.