The final day of the preliminary round at the Youth Olympic Games on Friday (22 August) started with the clash of two female handball powerhouses. And in contrast to the final of the Junior World Championship in Croatia some weeks ago, the Russian girls took the upper hand against Korea. The European champions beat the Asian champions in a high level match full of goals by 36:31 to finish on top of group A.

Both sides had already clinched their berth for the semi-finals before. Their respective opponents for the next stage will be decided in the last girls’ match of the preliminary round Sweden vs. Brazil later.

Girls’ tournament:

Group A:

Russia – Korea 36:31 (16:16)

The first half was on an equal level though intermediately the Russians had been ahead by three goals. But Korea managed to equalize within two minutes – so the 16:16 at the break was a well-deserved result in a high-speed match.

And the game of two medal contenders remained on a tight level until minute 51 and the score of 31:30 in favour of the Russians, who ten decided the encounter by a triple strike for 34:30. Korea gave up, and the final margin of five goals looks much clearer than the run-down of the match was.

Despite conceding 31 goals, Russian goalkeeper Anastasia Titovskaya was a tower of power for her side, saving twelve Korean shots. But also her counterpart Joeun Park did a great job by eleven saves. Both sides counted on their fast breaks – and like in the final result, Russia was in lead in this statistics by 11:9 goals by counter attacks. Best scorers were Jaroslava Frolova, netting in nine times for the victors, and Sojeong Yu with seven goals for the Koreans.