Group A 

Denmark - Netherlands (10:18) 24:29

The Netherlands remained also in their last match of the preliminary round undefeated and won against Denmark 29:24. The Dutch women already took the lead in the first half (18:10), so that their coach agreed to some breaks for his players, which gave the Danish team indeed the opportunity to score, but never endangered the forthcoming victory of the Netherlands. Lois Abbingh from the Dutch team was once more the most successful player by scoring nine goals. Both teams qualified for the quarterfinals. 

Argentina - Angola 24:24 (13:11)

The last match in group A wasn’t deciding for the further tournament. Nevertheless Argentina and Angola fought a hard game 24:24 (13:11). Argentina took the lead from the very beginning and kept it almost the entire match long, sometimes even with a five goals difference. But one and a half minute before the end, Angola equalized 24:24. Best scorer of the match was Argentina’s Xoana Iacoi with eight goals. Both teams will play in the placement round.

Group B  

Norway - Dominican Republic 24:23 (10:11)

The game between Norway and the Dominican Republic was more difficult than expected for the Norwegians. The host lost with a very tight 23:24. The match stayed thrilling until the last minutes. Carolina Lopes from the Dominican Republic was the best scorer of the match with nine goals. Both teams were already qualified for the quarterfinals. Norway will meet Denmark in a Scandinavian duel; the World Championship host will play against the Netherlands.

Gruppe C  

France - Hungary 23:23 (12:9)

Tears were flowing at the end. Only due to the goal difference Hungary missed the quarterfinals at a score of 23:23. The partly dramatic development of the game was witnessed by IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa. Both opponents knew that the game would decide about the entrance into the quarterfinals. The Hungarians, who were well prepared, showed only once weakness during the entire match. Even though in the first half Hungary was leading at a score of 8:7, they suddenly fell back and went into halftime at 8:12. But after the break the French wavered so that Hungary could take over again. The end result (23:23) reflected the performance of both teams, but led to completely different reactions. While the French were celebrating their qualification, the Hungarians were completely disappointed. Audrey Bruneau was with ten goals – after a disastrous start – best French scorer of the game. 

Kazakhstan - Sweden (8:19) 24:40

An average performance was enough to secure Sweden the victory in Group C. In their final preliminary round match they defeated newcomer Kazakhstan and won clearly at a score of 40:24. With 8:0 points they are ranked among the favorites for the title. With eight goals Linea Claeson was the best scorer of the Swedish team. 

Group D

Russia - Korea 32:29 (19:14)

Russia still needed a point for a secured entrance into the quarterfinals. By winning the match against Korea 32:29 they reached their target. During the entire match the Russians could expand their lead constantly goal by goal. After 47 minutes they were ahead with 27:20. But in the final phase Korea could catch up to a two goals difference (28:30 and 29:31 in the 59th and 60th minute). But the comeback was already too late. The world champion of 2008 won the match and is ranked first in group D. Best scorers of the game were the Russian players Vera Garanina and Victoria Divak and from Korea Hyeona Noh and Jungeun Kim, who each scored eight times.

Spain - Brazil 29:25 (15:10)

With a 29:25 victory against Brazil the Spanish team reached the quarterfinals. Brazil was a strong opponent, who balanced the game at least in the first half. Spain became the better team only in the second half of the match and had their best scorer in Sheila Segura (ten goals). In the next round Spain will meet the winner of Group C, Sweden. Russia will compete against France in the quarterfinals.