Youth World Championship enters decisive week
The main round of the 2022 Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship in North Macedonia starts Wednesday evening, as 12 teams from Europe are still in the race for the title.
All four main round groups have a similar line-up, with three teams from Europe and one from elsewhere. The 16 nations have come through the preliminary round, which started with 32 teams last Saturday.
The main round runs from Wednesday through Friday, followed by the quarter-finals on Sunday, the semi-finals on Monday, and the medal matches on Wednesday (10 August).
- out of the 20 European starters, 12 teams have made it to the main round
- among the eight European teams out of the race for gold are Spain, who stumbled in a tough group containing Hungary and France, and Czech Republic, who were kept out of the main round by Brazil based on goal difference
- six teams have come through the preliminary round with three straight wins: hosts North Macedonia, Denmark, Egypt, South Korea, Norway, and Hungary
- Croatia scored the most goals in the preliminary round – 116, which included a noteworthy 54:36 victory over India
- the line-up for the main round:
- group I: North Macedonia (2 points), Iceland (2), Sweden (0), Iran (0)
- group II: Denmark (2), Egypt (2), Croatia (0), Portugal (0)
- group III: South Korea (2), Netherlands (1), Romania (1), Germany (0)
- group IV: Norway (2), Hungary (2), France (0), Brazil (0) - record three-time champions Russia had won the last two editions of the Women’s Youth World Championship in 2016 and 2018, but were excluded from the 2022 edition
All matches are played in three venues in Skopje and are streamed live on the YouTube channel of the IHF, though geo-restrictions may apply in certain countries.
photo © Jozo Cabraja | kolektiff
