Serbia, Spain, Montenegro and Poland are four of the eight group winners in the preliminary round of the 2026 IHF Women's Junior World Championship, after sealing their third win in a row in the competition.

Group B
Austria vs Serbia 27:29 (11:14)

Serbia made it three wins from three in the group stage, beating fellow European side Austria in a hard-fought game. It means the Serbian team topped Group B and will progress to the main round with two points, while Austria will enter the main round with no points in hand.

Austria grabbed a 4:2 lead early in the match, but Serbia hit back with a 3:0 surge to turn the tide. While the battle was intense, the Balkan side went on to dominate, which resulted in their three-goal advantage at the break.

Tatjana Činku did an excellent job in Serbia’s goal, making nine saves and boasting a 47% save rate in the opening 30 minutes. Her heroics limited Austria to just 38% shooting efficiency before the break, while Serbia posted 61% despite seven saves by Nina Plavotic.

The Balkan team extended the gap to 19:15 in the 39th minute, but Austria regrouped and started a chase, drawing level at 23:23 ten minutes later. However, Serbia weathered the storm, using a quick 3:0 run to pull clear again.

Martina Maticevic was Austria’s driving force, finishing as the top scorer of the game with 10 goals. But when her team trailed 27:29 with nearly one minute to play, her shot went wide, and the game was decided.

Player of the Match: Martina Maticevic (Austria)

Group D
Spain vs Republic of Korea 30:18 (17:9)

After their wins against Türkiye and Argentina, both the Republic of Korea and Spain entered the last match of the group phase with perfect records, fighting for first place. However, the W19 EHF EURO 2025 runners-up Spain justified their favourite status right from the start. They opened with a 5:1 lead and left Korea without a goal for a full seven minutes.

As the half went on, Spain kept building their advantage, while Korea tried to speed things up and catch up through rotation — they did not change only field players, but all three goalkeepers also got minutes on court. Still, Spain were too strong, with Goundo Gassama Cissokho making 10 saves from 18 shots by half-time and Carmen Duran netting six goals. The Europeans were steadily on course for victory.

Spain needed only two minutes after the restart to open a double-digit lead, 19:9, leaving no room for surprises. Although Korea later found more stability thanks to goalkeeper Dain Kim, the gap proved too large to overcome. On the opposite side, Teresa Valero stepped between the posts for a spell and picked up where her teammate had left off, finishing with five saves at 50% efficiency, while 12 outfield players scored at least once.

Therefore, Spain claimed another convincing win at China 2026, their third by 10 goals or more, keeping their positive streak alive. Meanwhile, Korea lacked the experience and firepower to keep pace and will enter the main round without any carried-over points.

hummel Player of the Match: Goundo Gassama Cissokho (Spain)

Group G
Hungary vs Poland 25:27 (8:11)

A hard-fought match from the first minute produced very few goals, with Poland leading only 6:4 in the 20th minute. Both sides were fighting to finish first in the group and carry points with them into the main round, and the ones who took that task most seriously were the goalkeepers — Gréta Majoros and Nina Smelcerz.

Both were above 47% save efficiency at half-time, dictating the rhythm and the score. However, Hungary failed to make the most of their defensive work in key moments of the first half, with attacking mistakes ruining their chances of taking control.

Poland punished that, and as the tempo finally picked up near the end of the half, they moved to a four-goal lead, 10:6, through Zuzanna Zimnicka before taking an 11:8 lead into the break.

A fiery restart saw Hungary come out with a completely different approach. Backed by another string of saves, they capitalised on the chances they had missed in the first half and needed only three minutes to make it all square, 13:13. From there, it was a nip-and-tuck battle all the way into the final 10 minutes, with Poland constantly holding a slender lead.

In the decisive moments, Hungary’s nerves began to show as mistakes started to pile up. By the 55th minute, they had 16 turnovers, compared to Poland’s four, and paid a heavy price while playing seven against six. Hungary tried one final solution by marking Poland’s top scorer Zuzanna Zimnicka, but nothing seemed to work.

Poland pulled away to a 25:22 lead with seven minutes remaining and sealed a 27:25 victory, carrying two valuable points into main round Group IV. Hungary will join them there, starting with zero points.

hummel Player of the Match: Zuzanna Zimnicka (Poland)

Group F
Montenegro v Czech Republic 32:28 (16:11)

Since 2010, when they secured a bronze medal at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, Montenegro did not finish in the top-10 of the competition apart from their 10th place in 2022, but now they could make a sterling comeback, provided they keep the kind of form they had in the preliminary round at China 2026.

This current Montenegro generation was sixth at the W19 EHF EURO 2025 and has now secured three wins on the trot in the first part at China 2026, making them only one win in the main round away to secure a place in the quarter-finals and secure their best finish since 2010.

After clear wins, in double-digits, against the United States of America and Iceland, Montenegro also clearly dominated Czechia in Group F’s decider, taking an early 6:3 lead after only 10 minutes.

This is a different Montenegro generation – which does not rely exclusively on the physical approach and a sturdy defence – but is also providing the goods in attack, with playmaker Natalija Lekić calling the shots. Albeit not a natural born scorer, Lekić has been dishing assists left and right, with six only in the match against Czechia, on top of the seven she already had in the competition prior to this match.

With its strong start, Montenegro controlled the game with ease, as goalkeepeer Teodora Roncević hovered over the 35-40% saving efficiency mark, with 12 saves throughout the match, while Sanja Andrijasević and Maja Ceklic were their team’s top scorers, with 15 goals between them.

However, Czechia bounced back, but they had too little in defence to show, with their goalkeepers only saving five shots between them. Backs Tereza Filípková and Viktorie Pejšová scored seven goals each, but there was simply not enough time to complete the comeback.

Montenegro will start the main round with two points, in a group with Denmark and the People’s Republic of China, while Czechia are on 0.

Player of the Match: Maja Ceklic (Montenegro)