Denmark win final thriller in Montenegro

Denmark win final thriller in Montenegro

Just as in 2006 Denmark are Women’s Youth world champions.

In a nail-biting final of the IV World Championship in Bar, Montenegro, against Russia, the Scandinavians profited from a last second goal from Freja Kyndbal and took revenge for the last second defeat against Russia in the European Championship final in 2011.

Norway won the bronze medal, beating Romania in the 3-4 placement match. The first seven positions of the World Championship were taken by European teams, exactly those (in different order), which had finished the 2011 U17 EURO on the first seven positions.

Final: Denmark - Russia 27:26 (15:12)

A brilliant tournament ended with the most thrilling of all games – and a last second fast-break goal of Freja Kyndbal made the Danish girls celebrate the gold medal after a high class final, made by Hitchcock.

And like in the 2011 U17 European championship final, the match was decided with the final whistle. One year ago Russia took gold through a penalty shot with the final buzzer, in Montenegro Kyndbal took the advantage of a save of goalkeeper Louise Egestorp after a shot of Anna Vyakhireva six seconds before the end at the score of 26:26.

After a strong Russian start, Denmark took control and especially top scorer Anne Hansen (eight goals in total) took the responsibility for the 15:12 lead at the break. On the other side, Denmark was unable to stop eight-time scorer Vyakhireva. 

The three goals advantage for Denmark lasted until the 20:17 – before the Russians had their strongest period, turning the game with five straight goals to 22:20. But the Danes were not shocked, took their pace again and re-took the lead.

The highly thrilling final stages had started with both teams having chances to decide the game. Denmark took the lead, Russia equalized – and when everybody had expected an extra-time, Kyndbal made the dream of Danish gold come true.

Bronze final: Romania - Norway 30:36 (13:17)

While Norway had recovered perfectly from their semi-final defeat against Russia less than 20 hours before, Romania missed the medal they had dreamed of. After being beaten by Denmark in their semi-final, they did not have the means and the power to stop the Scandinavian express. Like at the U17 European champions 2011 in the Czech Republic, the Norwegian girls won themselves the bronze medal.

Again the number of successfully completed counter-attacks decided the match: While Norway scored 13 goals from fast breaks, Romania only had five counter-attack goals on their account after 60 minutes. Latest at 30:22 the bronze final was decided.

Placement match 5/6: Hungary – Sweden 31:25 (18:11)

After losing the quarter-final against Romania, Hungary held their heads up high and secured the fifth rank thanks to two straight victories against Japan and Sweden in the placement round. The Scandinavians were totally overrun in the starting period, when after the 0:1, the Hungarians scored 10 (!) straight goals to pre-decide the match already in minute 11.

Placement match 7/8: Japan – France 26:28 (16:13)

Like in their previous matches against European teams, Japan were dominant in the first part, but then ended empty-handed though this time they were really close. One thought the game would have been decided at 25:21 for the Europeans, was wrong. Japan equalized again by four straight goals, before Agathe and Prouvensier secured the lucky French victory. 

Top scorer

Top scorer of the IV Women’s Youth World Championship was Irina Alexandrinova (Kazakhstan) with 62 goals, closely followed by Haruno Sasaki (Japan, 61) and Alejandra Scarrone (Uruguay, 53).

The final ranking:

Gold: Denmark
Silver: Russia
Bronze: Norway
4. Romania
5. Hungary
6. Sweden
7. France
8. Japan
9. Korea
10. Netherlands
11. Montenegro
12. Brazil
13. Czech Republic
14. Croatia
15. Angola
16. Kazakhstan
17. Uruguay
18. DR Congo
19. Portugal
20. Paraguay