Twelve teams will be six contenders for Paris until the week is over. Favourites as Germany, Spain and Sweden were off to a good start in the qualification race for olympic tickets.
Germany hosts 1 in Neu-Ulm and collided with Slovenia in the opening game. Ana Gros and her teammates ran away to 3–0 before the home team started producing in their attacks. After that, Germany more or less kept a firm grip of the action, Katharina Filter´s saves secured a solid base while Julia Maidhof Alina Grijseels provided frequent goals.
Three European teams will most likely compete for two spots, Montenegro was dominant for the last 40 minutes and defended a lead against Paraguay.
Netherlands and Spain are tied with two points after the first match day in Torrevieja. Netherlands brought more energy to the second half versus Argentina and allowed only six goals in the deciding period. For Spain the first half made a difference as Mireya Gonzalz found the net and Mercedes Castellanos was strong between the posts.
Spain led by nine at half-time and concluded the game with 31–21 after Ambros Martin used the opportunity to distribute minutes on the field to many players in the second half.
Sweden acted with a lot of focus and brought Japan down via breakthroughs to 35–28. The physical setup was very much in favour of yellow and blue.
– 35 goals is good. I´m happy with that, said coach Tomas Axner to the website of the Swedish Handball federation.
A late switch in group 3 means Great Britain takes part instead of Cameroon. Effectively the group is a three horse-race and the game between Sweden and Hungary, who beat Team GB by 49–11 will take the winning nation to the olympics.
Olympic Qualification
Group 1, Germany–Slovenia 31–25 (17-14)
Montenegro–Paraguay 30–25 (17–12)
Group 2, Czechia–Spain 21–31 (10–19)
Netherlands–Argentina 34–22 (19–16)
Group 3, Hungary–Great Britain 49–11 (24–6)
Sweden–Japan 35–28 (17–13)