Spain eased to a 17-goal win over Kazakhstan, as they closed the first day of the 26th IHF Women's World Handball Championship in Fredrikshavn.

Group G
Spain vs Kazakhstan 34:17 (14:8)

For the ninth time at the world flagship competition, Spain opened the campaign with a win and Kazakhstan was at the receiving end for the second time. But the Asian side, who had little time to prepare after a long trip to Scandinavia, had a strong start to the game, almost leaving Spain without an answer. With Darya Kolesnichenko's 50 per cent save efficiency, Spain was trailing in the first ten minutes of the game and looked in trouble. However, Kazakhstan's attack slowly faltered and a strong will to keep up with “Las Guerreras” brought them a series of mistakes.

Even though Kazakhstan's second goalkeeper Damira Zhaparova continued her teammates' job, without a proper response in attack, Spain soon caught a four-goal lead and left the Asian side without a goal scored for an 11-minute stint, which proved to be the pivotal moment of the match.

The slow pace made Spain also lose their impetus and one could sense that their coach, Ambros Martín, who made his debut in a major international tournament on the European's side bench, was not satisfied with the development of the match. If Kazakhstan had not finished the first 30 minutes with 14 turnovers, Spain would have been in serious trouble, but the last five minutes of the first half were Spain's bread and butter, as they created a six-goal lead, 14:8, at the break.

Knowing they would not be able to shift the momentum, Kazakhstan's head coach Yevgeniy Shishkin gave a chance to most of his players in the second half. Spain finally reached their first double-digit lead in the 42nd minute when Maitane Echeverria Martinez scored nicely from the right wing.

Mercedes Castellanos Soanez had a good role between the posts and helped Spain to further widen the gap ending the day with seven saves at 44 per cent save efficiency. Sevara Rejemetova, Veronika Khardina and Kristina Radayeva kept Kazakhstan's attack alive with 13 goals between them, but eventually Spain jumped to a convincing 34:17 win, which bodes well for their future in the competition. 

Even though Kazakhstan have started Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 with a defeat, Kazakhstan can be proud of their goalkeepers as well as of the fact that this is the second-highest number of goals they have ever scored against Spain.

hummel Player of the Match: Maitane Echeverria Martinez (Spain)