Spain won the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, with a record-breaking 6,003 spectators witnessing a dramatic final as Denmark lost the match in the last second. This was Spain’s first gold medal in the World Championship in the younger age categories.
The summer’s last youth championship has now come to an end, and for the second time this summer, Spain emerged as champions, this time after a thrilling final against Denmark.
– We made history for Spanish handball and there have been some years when Spain did not win so many medals and this has never been achieved in history in the younger age categories, said left back Belen Rodriguez Lario to IHF.
Denmark started the game strong, taking an early lead of up to four goals.
However, early in the second half, Spain caught fire, scoring ten times and conceding only one goal during a span of 12 minutes and 57 seconds, and the match went down to the wire.
Spain had three players suspended in the last six minutes, and Denmark had the opportunity to tie the game with 20 seconds left, but their shot hit the crossbar, allowing Spain to lift the trophy.
– We proved that we have resilience. We needed a good result, but we knew it was just a matter of time before we really deliver that good performance we needed, because we trusted ourselves and I knew we had it in us. Our team was perfect, because they say defences win championships and this is what happened here, said Rodriguez.
The bronze medal went to Hungary.