Olympic champion Norway reached the main round of the Women’s Handball World Cup in Germany and the Netherlands without any blemishes.
The four-time world champion defeated African champions Angola 31:19 (19:10) at the end of Group H in Trier on Monday and takes the ideal score of 4:0 points into the next phase of the tournament. The two-time world handball player Henny Reistad scored five goals, Norway’s star was only surpassed by teammate Nora Mork (six).
The co-favorites from Denmark (Group A), who won their third tournament game against Romania with 39:31 (21:18) after some difficulties, also showed no weakness in Rotterdam.
Sweden, on the other hand, suffered a surprising defeat in Stuttgart Group G: the Scandinavians, for whom a draw would have been enough to win the group, lost to Brazil with 27:31 (16:15) and go into the three matchday main round with 2:2 points. The same applies to Switzerland, the World Cup debutants lost to Hungary 25:32 (14:13) in Group B in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
The German team completed the preliminary round on Sunday with three clear victories. The opponent in the first main round game on Tuesday in Dortmund is the outsider Faroe Islands.