France and Japan secured a top-10 finish at the 2026 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, with wins over Romania and Netherlands respectively.

Placement Matches 9-12
France vs Romania 32:21 (17:11)
Netherlands vs Japan 36:47 (17:20)

The hosts missed the chance to secure a top-10 finish, with yet another match where their efficiency was simply not there and they looked like lacking the tools to really compete at the highest level.

For the first five minutes of the match, France and Romania were level, 4:4, but a 3:0 run from France started to provide the direction for the rest of the match. Right back Lou Saramito totally outplayed the Romania defence, which had no answers for their opponents, as the gap grew bigger and bigger.

Coach Victorina Bora tried to rotate the players to the best of her ability, but Romania were still down six goals at the break, 11:17, and from there it went worse in the start of the second half, with Saramito and Gabriele Buisson scoring from the back line to improve the lead to nine goals, 21:12.

That 4:1 run was the turning point of the match, as Romania had nothing left in the tank by that point, as the gap started growing bigger and bigger, eventually ending in a double-digit win for France, 32:21, as Saramito finished the match with 10 goals.

In one of the highest-scoring matches of the competition, Japan pulled a blinder against the Netherlands, with a fantastic attacking display.

Hina Miura was her team’s top scorer, with an otherworldly 16-goal output, also adding six assists, with only two penalties, helping Japan to secure the 47:36 win.

The Netherlands started the match better, leading 8:5, but Japan slowly came back and an 8:2 run turned the match on its head, as the Asian side entered the break with a three-goal lead, 20:17.

Miura, helped by Miina Nakasuji, who also scored seven goals, pushed her side throughout the match, totally dominating the Netherlands through sheer speed and fast ball movement, helping seal an 11-goal win, 47:36, in the end.

Japan will now face France in the Placement Match 9/10, while Romania play for the 11th spot in the final standings against the Netherlands on Friday.

Placement Matches 21-24
Argentina vs Serbia 23:24 (11:16)

Argentina and Serbia provided a dramatic match, but in the end the European side managed to secure the win, 24:23, after finishing with a 4:1 run.

Serbia looked in total control after the first half, when they created a five-goal lead, 16:11, but they ran into trouble, especially in attack, early in the second half, when Argentina scored three goals in a row and Serbia failed to score for nearly eight minutes.

By the 46th minute, Argentina had tied the score, 19:19 and three minutes later, they even took the lead, 21:20, with a strong outing from Catalina Podesta, who scored eight goals.

But Serbia bounced back, used a 4:0 run spurred by top scorer Jelena Mirković (eight goals) to turn the game on its head and eventually secure a 24:23 win.

Placement Matches 29-32
Uzbekistan vs Algeria 38:30 (19:19)

Algeria could only match Uzbekistan’s output throughout the first half, when after five lead changes, the two sides were tied, 19:19.

But in the second half, the African side scored only three goals in the first 15 minutes, therefore Uzbekistan could build a large enough gap to clinch the win.

Uzbekistan, powered by Uljamal Pirjanova and Ilmira Bayjanova who combined for 19 goals, started the second half with a 5:0 unanswered run, followed with another 6:0 run, to open a 10-goal lead, 32:22.

Eventually, Uzbekistan, who face Uruguay in the Placement Match 29/30, won 38:30, while Algeria try to beat Fiji in the battle of the teams which lost all matches so far in their last encounter in the cometition.