All-Arab and all-European semi in the boys competition

22 Aug. 2014

All-Arab and all-European semi in the boys competition

After twelve matches the preliminary round of the handball tournament at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing was concluded on Friday night. The Slovenian boys kept their unbeaten record by a clear 38:23 win over Qatar. Both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals before.

Group winner Slovenia will face Norway in all-European semi on Sunday, while Qatar will compete in an all-Arab semi with defending champions Egypt for a spot in the final.

After a rest day on Saturday day 4 of the YOG handball tournament will start with the first placement matches for the positions 5/6 – Angola vs. China in the girls competition and Tunisia vs. Brazil in the boys’ tournament.

 

Boys’ tournament:

Group B:

Qatar – Slovenia 23:38 (10:17)

Both sides had beaten Tunisia before, both sides fought for the top spot in group B – but the high hopes of Qatar have been shattered after only nine minutes, when the powerful and fast Slovenians had forged ahead to a 7:2 lead, even leaving the Asian champions clearer behind at 11:3 six minutes later.

Qatar recovered temporarily, but could not decrease the gap to less than pre-decisive seven goals at the break, as Slovenian goalkeeper Urh Kastelic had a brilliant day (10 of in total 14 saves in the first 30 minutes). Additionally Blaz Janc showed a strong performance, scoring all his six goals in the first half. 

After the break Slovenia even accelerated the speed, running over the Qataris by fast breaks – so it was no wonder that counter attack specialist Gal Marguc finally was the top scorer by nine goals.

As only goalkeeper Bilal Lepenica (13 saves) waved the Qatari flag in the second half, the European contenders easily managed to increase the gap to ten goals at 21:11 and 15 goals for the first time at 37:22. This match was a perfect Slovenian preparation for the much tougher semi against Norway on Sunday, while Qatar need a clear improvement to have a chance against Egypt.

 

The further schedule of the boys’ tournament in Nanjing (all times are local):

Sunday, 24 August:

Placement match 5/6:

11:00: Tunisia vs. Brazil

Semi-finals:

18:00: Egypt vs. Qatar

20:30: Norway vs. Slovenia