Placement Match 9/10 – Switzerland vs Hungary 35:33 (15:15)

It was a full-throttle game from the outset, with the teams playing one-for-one through the opening minutes. Every opportunity was taken for a counter attack, and Hungary’s positional attack in particular, led by centre back Adam Juhasz, was fast and structured. 

After five minutes the score was level before Hungary took the advantage with a goal from left back Matyas Gyori putting them two in front (4:6, 10th minute). Their lead did not last long however – Switzerland fought back with saves from goalkeeper Noah Huber keeping Hungary off the score board. After 15 minutes they had levelled the score and created a one-goal lead (7:6). 

A wing goal from Hungary’s left side of the court by David Fekete closed the score line to one with just over six minutes left in the half (12:11) and Switzerland lost their next attack giving Hungary the chance to equalise, which they did with a penalty goal. 

Gyori received a two-minute suspension in the 27th but Hungary retained the advantage until a late goal from Switzerland sent them into the break with a level score. 

In the second half Switzerland pulled ahead to a four-goal advantage by the 40-minute mark, retaining their lead with an outside shot from left back Albin Alili in the 45th (27:22). It seemed the match must be decided in Switzerland’s favour, but Hungary were not silver medallists at the European Championship last year for nothing – they fought hard and with five minutes left came within one goal (31:30). 

They could not find the extra push they needed however; in the 59th minute when Switzerland were two ahead Bence Mikita had the chance to equalise and missed. But Gyori (nine goals) scored inside the last minute and suddenly the motivation was there. Hungary moved up to man-on-man defence and almost stole the ball, but Cedrie Tynowski broke through to score the last goal of the game and slot Switzerland into ninth position on the final ranking. 

11/12 Placement Match – Russian Federation vs Serbia 37:28 (19:17)

From the opening minutes of the match a Russia victory did not seem possible – Serbia moved ahead on the score board with apparent ease, leading by three after five minutes (2:5). A fast break from Nikola Arsenic (five goals) put Serbia four ahead in the 10th minute, before Russia right wing Vladislav Razmaev decreased the score line to three (6:9). 

Serbia maintained the lead but a goalkeeper change for Russia seemed to inspire fresh motivation in the hosts – Iyrii Sergeev was replaced by Andrei Vereshchagin just after midway through the half (9:13, 16th minute), saving a penalty in the 20th when his side had reeled Serbia back in to a one-goal difference (12:13). 

Serbia coach Nikola Markovic called a time-out but when they returned to the court, Vereshchagin promptly saved another penalty to spell trouble for the Balkan team. Russia levelled the score in the 23rd and took the lead a minute later courtesy of right wing Timofei Maslennikov. Serbia responded by changing their goalkeeper from Luka Stanojlovic to Marko Jurakic, but it did little to help as Russia cruised in to the break with a two-goal lead. 

Stanojlovic came back in the second period but the game was well and truly Russia’s – the hosts pulled ahead with a goal just as the clock ticked into the final ten minutes giving them a comfortable lead of six (31:25). Their team on court was comprised of many players not seen much during the tournament, but even their second line up was having little trouble and by the end of the game when they confirmed themselves as 11th-place finishers, only one player had not made his way onto the score board. 

“First congratulations to Russia. They played very well. We disobeyed our coach’s orders and that is why we have this result. We didn’t have the courage or spark to win this game. 

“Russia’s counter attacks were also very good and we didn’t stop them – that is also why we have this result,” said Serbia’s Vukasin Rakocija after the game. 

13/14 Placement Match – Korea vs Croatia 36:30 (19:20)

Korea picked up their third win at Russia 2015 thanks to a last quarter run where they outscored their European opponents 9:2 to win 36:30.

Hrvoje Horvat’s Croatia side led for large parts of the game, entering those final 15 minutes 28:27 - and even as much as four goals (17:13) in the 23rd minute.

But Jongha Park’s side do not give up and supported by a passionate group of local students, studying Korean, they played right until the last seconds to secure 13th place.

Croatia would have been further ahead at the break than (20:19) had their ploy of putting 7-6 in attack not backfired a number of times during the half, where goalkeeper Jaeyong Park, who earlier missed a field goal scored just before the break, joining fellow goalkeeper Yongsig Park who also scored.

A sloppy 7-metre on the buzzer meant that Seokju Kang could score to make the difference just that one goal.

Despite that sloppy period of play, Croatia were still keeping their noses in front but the writing was on the wall as even though Korea were being warned for passive play Yeonbin Kim easily tricked his way through a sleeping defence to make it 22:21.

Korea were warming up and in that last quarter it was the Hyeonho Seo show as the centre back struck again and again - five times in total - to seal the victory as Croatia could only score 10 times.

15/16 Placement Match – Egypt vs Tunisia 31:27 (17:12)

Egypt came out on top in this battle of Africa to finish 15th as they never looked troubled by their near-neighbours in the North of the continent.

Yahia Mohammed lead the top scoring for his side on 11 goals but it was Aly Hassan Anis Mohamed with nine who scored at critical times and lead his team through the moments in the game when Tunisia threatened to get a foothold.

At 25:17 up in the 40th minute Egypt were coasting, but they were a little bit too relaxed as Tunisia went on a 4:0 run over the next five minutes as Yassine Bouteffaha and Anouar Ben Abdallah scored two apiece.

The score was just 21:25 to Egypt with 15 minutes left, but that man Yahia Khaled Mahmoud stepped up again, scoring three to see Egypt home 31:27 despite a late double from Oussama Ghachem.

Egypt will look at their Russia 2015 experience on the whole as a positive one, dumping Germany out and moving to a more European 6:0 formation as their players become more physically able to compete with their opponents.