Thanks to their will, fighting spirit and individual skills Korea has won the top match of Main Round group I at the Women’s Junior WCH in Korea. They beat Norway in the final fight for number one in this group 30:26 (15:12) – and now Korea’s  the only spotless team at this tournament. What opponents both teams meet in the semi finals will be decided in today’s second and third session in group II. In this group Sweden has beaten Spain clearly 22:11 and finishes the round on fourth position.
 
Group I: Norway – Korea 26:30 (12:15)
The arrival of IHF President Dr. Hassan Moustafa in Seoul was a good omen for the WCH host. Attended by Dr Moustafa the Koreans kept their white vest and took their eighth victory in their eighth match. For Norway it was the first defeat in Korea and finally rank second in group I below Korea. Norway had started with a strong defense that the physical weaker Koreans couldn’t overcome. Aside the attack was real efficient – as the Korean defense initially didn’t have the means to stop the tall Norwegian attackers that played with full speed and led 11:8.  But coach Baek Sangsuh did everything right by taking his time-out in minute 21: He changed his defense tactics to a more offensive one and put high pressure on the Norwegian attackers. They were confused, aside Norway received two suspensions. With two players more on the field the WCH host equalized at the 11:11 by individual strong actions and extended their lead to 15:12 at the break. At the beginning of the second half Norway lost their rhythm in offense completely for some minutes – and Korea went away to 17:12 – with meant an outstanding 9:1 series. Thanks to this result the host played with much more confidence and broke through the Norwegian defense easily. But then the European Champion improved again, came closer to the 18:20 thanks to a better goalkeeper performance – but the “good Norwegian times” didn’t last for long, as Korea increased the pressure and showed some spectacular pivot goals which brought them a comfortable 25:20 lead in minute 49. Aside goalkeeper Park saved some important shots. Eun Hee Ryu decided the game with the 29:24 in minute 57. Ryu (six goals) was the best Korean player aside Eunbi Lee (eight goals). For Korean coach baek Sansuh the “defense decided the game. I’m very proud on the way we played in defense.” Goalkeeper So Ri Park agreed: “Thanks to the improvement in defense we won this crucial game against a strong opponent.” Norwegian coach Tom Morten Svendsen praised Korea: “They played real good and fast. In the beginning we were on the same level, but then our defense wasn’t fast enough. Korea could do what they wanted in attacks. Maybe we meet again in the final, but then we will have learned.”
 
Group II: Spain – Sweden 11:22 (6:8)
Sweden won their second Main Round match and overtook Spain in the ranking by a finally one-sided victory. Now Sweden that had started with 0:4 points in the Main Round will play for the places 7/8, as Spain will mostly fight for the ninth or tenth place in the final ranking on Thursday in Gwangju depending on the later-on result of brazil against Russia. The whole game was imprinted by strong defense sides and less goals, as the defenses neutralized themselves for a long period of the match. Sweden was in lead the whole 60 minutes, but the game was equal until the 11:9 in the second half. Then Spain hardly scored anymore goals, as Swedish goalkeeper Filippa Idehn and the whole defense stood like a wall. Sweden from then on scored impressive 11:2 goals until the end, as the Spaniards gave themselves up very early. Thanks to their eleven goals Swedish Natalie Hagman (who scored the same number of goals as the whole Spanish team) is on best way to become top scorer of the WCH. Marta Lopez scored five times for Spain.