The Russian Federation play France and Montenegro take on Denmark on the first day of Placement Round matches at the 22nd IHF Women’s Handball World Championship.

Jyske Bank BOXEN, Herning
France vs Russian Federation 13:00 local time

Russian coach Evgeniy Trefilov will be relying on the pairing of goalkeeper Anna Sedoykina and left back Polina Kuznetcova who have played nearly four-and-a-half hours each of the tournament in the seven games they have played to date to lead his side to victory in the opening match of the Denmark 2015 placement round.

Top scorer for the Russians is right wing Anna Vyakhereva with 39 strikes and a 65% shooting accuracy, followed by centre back Ekaterina Ilina on 32 goals.

In their Preliminary Round Group D games, Russia looked strong – beating semi-finalists Norway and Romania along with Spain and the expected victories against Puerto Rico and Kazakhstan. An easy win against Korea in the Eighth-Finals suggested that Russia would be one of the Denmark 2015 contenders, but they did not count on a resurgent Polish side, complete with goalkeepers keeping out nearly half of all of their attempts as they lost 21:20.

When you compare Alain Portes’ French side with nearly 60 less attacks than the Russians to date at Denmark 2015 (356 with 47% accuracy to Russia’s 412 / 54%), it highlights the defensive capabilities of France more than their attacking flair.

Laura Glauser and Amandine Leynaud share goalkeeping duties for the French and will present a formidable obstacle to the Russian shooters.

However, after a last-second 7m to  against Spain in the eighth-finals, an emotionally and physically drained French side came up against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals in Kolding and did not have enough gas left in the tank as they lost to what Portes called a “beautiful” team 28:25.

France already had a defeat (Brazil) and a draw (Korea) against their name from Group C in the Preliminary Round but they had started to grow comfortable with the tournament.

They showed their fighting qualities against Spain and will need to again today as they look to Allison Pineau, their top scorer on 35 strikes, plus 24 assists. Supporting her is the tough Alexandra Lacrabere who has provided her teammates with goalscoring opportunities 25 times already and was the scorer of that final second 7m against Spain.

Montenegro vs Denmark 15:30 local time

Montenegro and Denmark are both undoubtedly disappointed to find themselves in the Placement Round matches. With such support behind them Denmark hoped to make it further along the path to the Final, while 2012 European champions and London Olympic Games silver medallists Montenegro had been aiming for a strong result at the one competition that has so far eluded them – the IHF World Championship. 

The battle for 5-8 on the final ranking is not where either hoped to be, but now they must dust themselves off and prepare to face each other once again as they look to secure the best possible finish they can. 

As with both the Semi-Finals, the match between Montenegro and Denmark is the second time these teams have met at Denmark 2015. Both played their preliminary round in Group A, with Montenegro coming out on top in the group phase game with a final score of 23:21. In that match Denmark played a much stronger second half after trailing 12:7 at half-time, as they have in so many of their games here at the 22nd IHF Women’s Handball World Championship. A close 60 minutes can therefore be expected, and the Danish fans will surely turn out in force to support their team, who in turn will be determined to finish as strongly as possible in front of their home crowd.