The People's Republic of China claimed their first win at the 2024 IHF Women's Junior World Championship, surprisingly snatching two points against Czechia in a hard-fought encounter, 27:26. This was also their first win against an European team in the competition since 2005.

GROUP E
Czechia vs People's Republic of China 26:27 (13:16)

The opening minutes of the match brought a very hard-fought battle, with none of the teams managing to create a gap, as the deadlock was still not broken after 10 minutes, 4:4. Immediately, though, the People's Republic of China took the initiative - they defended well, forced their rivals to make mistakes and took a 9:5 lead midway through the first half.

Following a 3:0 run spurred by Xuedan Liu's goals, the Asian side even extended the gap to six goals, 14:8, forcing Czechia to take a team time-out, which woke them up from, as a 4:0 run cut the gap to only two goals, 14:12. Yet it was clear the European side had a tough match on their hands, as China led by three goals at half-time, 16:13.

With experience on their side, Czechia continued their chase after the restart and drew level at 18:18, as Danijela Simkova netted in the 37th minute. Soon they even took the lead, 19:18, but failed to keep the momentum, as their players missed too many shots and turnovers piled.

The two teams went on to trade goals, and none of them could pull clear by more than one goal for the next 18 minutes. It was China which finally created a two-goal lead, 15:13, but Czechia hit back, and the fight was extremely hard until the last seconds. 

Both sides missed a number of chances, and in the end it was China's right wing Hongyan Zhuang who scored the winner 33 seconds from full-time. Czechia had a chance to earn a point, but left wing Sofie Behenska hit the post shortly before the final buzzer, and the emotional Asians screamed and jumped for joy as the game ended with their win, 27:26.

This was China's first win against an European team since 2005, when they beat France, Lithuania and Czechia, but also a crucial win, which could see them through to the main round and between the first 16 teams in the world.

After the second matchday, Sweden have four points in Group E, while Czechia and People's Republic of China are tied on two points. China's win may prove crucial in the fight for a main round spot, as on Saturday, they will meet the last-placed Algeria, who are on zero points, while Czechia face Sweden, with China holding the tie-breaker in case of both teams finishing on the same number of points. 

Alkaloid Player of the Match: Xuedan Liu (People's Republic of China)