Slovakia won their first game at the IHF Women’s World Championship in 24 years, after dominating Tunisia, 31:27, in the first game of Group II of the President’s Cup.

It was only the third win in history for Slovakia in the world handball flagship competition, as they are now favoured to win the group and play in the President’s Cup final, the 25/26 placement match.

PRESIDENT’S CUP GROUP II
Slovakia vs Tunisia 31:27 (17:14)
 
Trying to stop a 10-game losing streak at the IHF Women’s World Championship spanning back to Germany 2017, Tunisia enjoyed a bright start to the game, learning the lessons from their nine-goal defeat against Congo in the preliminary round, which confined them to the President’s Cup.

The African side took advantage of Slovakia’s mistakes to take a 3:1 lead, with left wing Aya Masri scoring once and assisting another goal. Slovakia looked shell shocked at first, but four consecutive Tunisian turnovers tilted the balance once again.

As back Marianna Rebicova was superb in defence, the European team conceded only one goal between the eighth and the 13th minute, as they embarked on a 11:2 run that helped them open a seven-goal lead, 12:5, with Tunisia’s defence crumbling.

Goalkeeper Viktoria Oguntoyava saved seven Tunisian shots, while captain Reka Bizikova was absolutely superb in attack, converting six of her eight shots, as the African side could not really understand what was really happening. In fact, Slovakia’s collective game really took off, as only one of their 17 goals in the first half was unassisted.

But a time out taken at the right moment by coach Moez Ben Amor instilled new life into the Tunisian side, who mounted a strong comeback in the last minutes of the first part of the game, cutting the gap to only three goals at the break, 17:14.

A flurry of fast breaks, which followed several stops in defence, were enough for Slovakia to decide the game after a 5:0 run to start the second half, when Tunisia failed to score for the first six minutes and 57 seconds.

From that time, it was game over for Tunisia, who did their best to limit the score, but found themselves recording another tough loss, 27:31, despite finishing the game on a 6:2 run.

It was the most goals scored in a game by Slovakia in their history at the IHF Women’s World Championship, two more than the previous record, 29, in the preliminary round at Austria/Hungary 1995, against Canada. Also, another Slovakian record, the most goals scored by a single player in a game, was beaten by Bizikova, who finished the match with nine goals.

Slovakia won only their third game at the IHF Women’s World Championship, ending a 24-year wait in the competition and will now face Paraguay and the People’s Republic of China in their next matches, with an eye on the President’s Cup final.

On the other hand, Tunisia extend their losing streak in the competition to 11 games, which they will try to stop on Friday when they face China, but the African side has already assured their worst-ever finish at the IHF Women’s World Championship.

hummel Player of the Match: Reka Bizikova, Slovakia

Photo: RFEBM / J. Navarro