The 23rd IHF Women’s World Championship President’s Cup final will be contested between 2013 world champions Brazil and 2015 semi-finalists Poland, after both won their first 17-20 placement matches, against Cameroon and Angola. While Brazil and Poland play for 17th place, Cameroon and Angola will contest 19th on day two of the Presidents Cup.

In the opening round of 21-24 placement matches in Magdeburg, Paraguay beat Argentina by three and PR of China defeated Tunisia by one.

PLACEMENT MATCH 17-20

Angola vs Poland 33:34 (24:24) (13:12)

The first ticket to the President’s Cup final was decided in a dramatic match that ended with a sudden death penalty shoot-out. No less than 22 shots were needed to find the winner after the full-time buzzer sounded, with Adrianna Placzek – who was celebrating her 24th birthday – the hero for Poland as she saved the deciding penalty to secure the one-goal win.

The physically tough match was close all the way through, with each team taking their turn holding the advantage before the other would equalise. Poland were led by a great performance from left wing Kinga Grzyb, who tallied a total of 11 goals. Toward the end of them match, Angola looked on their way to a victory as they moved ahead by several goals, but Poland’s experience helped them come back to level the score and the match was pushed into a penalty shoot-out in accordance with the competition regulations.

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Kinga GRZYB (POL)

Brazil vs Cameroon 28:26 (14:15)

Brazil encountered a tough challenge from Cameroon in the second President’s Cup match of the day in Arena Leipzig. The 2013 world champions took the lead early and held it until late in the half, when coach Jorge Duenas made changes to his line-up, including replacing goalkeeper Barbara Arenhart for Mayssa Pessoa and bringing in centre back Ana Paulo Belo. Still, it was Cameroon who had the last say with a 3:1 run before the end of the half, which earned them a one-goal lead at the break.

Brazil equalised as soon as the first half began, and it was a level contest through to the last 10 minutes, when the Pan American champions began to pull away to finish with a two-goal victory that booked them a place in the 17/18 play-off against Poland.

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Dayan DA ROCHA (BRA)

PLACEMENT MATCHES 21-24

Tunisia vs China 31:32 (14:16)

China had the upper hand before this match as Tunisia could only name 14 players in their squad due to the injuries of the influential Mouna Chebbah and Senda Farah Chekir which saw the pair watch the match from the stands.

An impressive nine-goal match from Li Xiaomei proved to be the difference in the end as Tunisia and even China tired towards the end of the 60 minutes. Towards the end of the 30 minutes China had taken a two-goal half-time lead (16:14) but a 4:0 unanswered scoring run from the north Africans, including a double from Amal Hamrouni, put them 20:17 up early in the second period.

But China fought back and ended up scoring the most goals in a single game at Germany 2017 to date and a 3:0 run with less than 10 minutes remaining put them clear, although a Tunisian goal a few seconds from the final buzzer kept the Asian side on their toes.

“It was a very close game and it could have gone either way,” said China coach Jesper Holmris. “We were a bit unlucky to not win against Cameroon in our last match, so we very much wanted to win this one.”

China’s Yu YuanYuan was visibly delighted with the win in the post-match press conference. “We are very happy that we won though it was a very close score,” she said.

“At last we won [a match here at Germany 2017], which is very exciting. Every match we have got better.”

“It was a very good match,” said Tunisia’s Technical Director Yessine Arfa, taking the place of Tunisia coach Issam Lahiani in the media conference. “We had a very low efficiency from our goalkeepers and made lots of mistakes in the defence, which are the main reasons why we did not win today.

“Our team consists of very young players and they need the experience to improve their performance.”

“We want to congratulate China on their win,” said Tunisia player Manel Kouki. “It was a very good match and it will help us for the future. The team of China are very good and can hopefully go further in the next competition. We did not play well today, and it was difficult for us to win missing those two players.”

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Liu XIAMEI (CHN)

Paraguay vs Argentina 28:25 (10:12)

In the morning match, both Pan-American teams were determined to get their first wins at Germany 2017 following five straight losses each in their respective Preliminary Round groups.

The two teams had met earlier this year in the semi-final of the 2017 PHF Women’s Pan-American Championship where host nation Argentina had easily beaten their visitors 29:19 but today was a completely different story as Neri Ruben Vera’s Paraguay came from behind (12:10 down at the break) to win by three in the end.

They had gone ahead twice earlier, taking a 4:2 (8th minute) and 7:4 (14th) lead before Argentina – visibly tiring after facing five European teams in their Preliminary Group – went ahead in the 21st minute, holding the lead until half-time. But Vera’s squad went in front for the third and final time in the game in the 42nd minute (17:16) and they would not be caught again as Fernanda Insfran’s strike to make it 26:23 in the 57th minute confirmed the imminent victory.

“It was a good second half by Paraguay in attack which made it difficult for us to defend,” said Argentina coach Eduardo Peruchena after the match. “We had a difficult preliminary round which cost us a lot of energy and we’re playing with a new team, which has changed since the Olympic Games and which still needs to learn a lot.”

His player Giuliana Gavilan was in no doubt where the loss originated. “We very clearly lost in the defence,” she said. “We lost lots of balls which in return led to fast goals for Paraguay, but now we need to lift our heads because tomorrow is another match.”

“It was a difficult game for us especially in the first half,” said Vera. “In the second half we managed to play fast, and the players listened to our instructions very clearly. We are very happy to have won against Argentina and it shows that we did a good job with the team.”

Paraguay’s Maria Paula Fernandez Estigarribia echoed her coaches’ thoughts. “We had a very difficult game with all the lost balls, but we managed to turn the game around and won in the end.”

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Marizza Alejandra FARIA SERVIN (PAR)