Spain narrowly missed out on the semi-finals in their first tournament appearance. The team including the event’s leading scorer Miguel Garcia Gomar (29 goals) and a former European Cup winner: 38-year-old Oscar Perales Perez, who won the Cup Winners’ Cup with Valladolid and Leon in 2005 and 2008, finished their group in second, after losing to Norway 12:10.
They lost their thrilling cross match 20:18 against Netherlands, who were ranked third in group B and will now duel for the fifth place with Croatia, a team they had beaten in the preliminary round.
Portugal were the other group winners, thanks to a crucial 18:13 victory over India, which still made it to the semi-final with a 13:11 win over Croatia in the cross matches.
On Sunday, teams from the same preliminary groups lock horns in the semis: Norway play Netherlands at 11:00 CET, followed by Portugal against India at 12:15 CET.
Hungary, Romania and Pakistan (playing without ranking) play for the positions seven to nine, before the bronze medal match (17:15 CET) and the final (19:00 CET) conclude the inaugural World & European Wheelchair Handball Championship, played in the six-a-side format – a cooperation between EHF and IHF.
All matches are broadcast live on EHFTV.
