The women’s World League has started with the European preliminaries.
Seven teams are competing – Spain, Netherlands, Greece, Russia, Italy, Hungary and France. The best three will qualify for the Super Final.
All teams are in the same group, and they will play seven rounds, by a single round-robin system.
One game was played last week, on Day 1 (two were postponed), while three matches of Day 2 were staged this evening. Two of today’s three games were completed after penalty shootouts.
Women’s World League 2020, European Qualifications
Day 1
Spain – France 18:1 (5:0, 6:0, 6:1, 1:0)
Spain: Ariza 4, Amoroso 3, Munoz 2, Diez 2, Barriga 2, Zurita 1, Aymerich 1, Carrasco 1, Godoy 1, Arrones 1.
France: Daule 1.
Italy – Russia 10 December
Greece – Hungary 23 December
Netherlands bye
Day 2
Spain – Hungary 11:10 (2:0, 4:1, 2:3, 0:4, PSO 3:2)
Spain: Munoz 3, LLaquet 2, Aymerich 2, Arrones 2, Ariza 1, Godoy 1.
Hungary: Gurisatti 3, Illes 2, Keszthelyi 2, Antal 1, Rybanska 1, Garda 1.
Italy – Netherlands 14:16 (2:2, 5:6, 3:3, 2:1, PSO 2:5)
Italy: Garibotti 4, Chiappini 4, Marletta 3, Queirolo 2, Avegno 1.
Netherlands: Keuning 5, Voorvelt 2, Stophorst 2, Megens 2, Genee 1, Van der Sloot 1, Wolves 1, Van de Kraats 1, Sleeking 1.
France – Russia 9:12 (0:4, 2:4, 4:2, 3:2)
France:Daule 3, Clerc 2, Millot, Bachelier 1, Mahieu 1, Dhaulluin 1.
Russia: Kempf 2, Pystina 2, Diachenko 2, Chagochkina 2, Markovh 2, Leonova 1, Lapteva 1
Greece bye
The preliminaries were opened last week, by Spain’s huge win over France.
Today, the Spaniards had a very hard task. Spain, the silver medallist at this year’s World Championships, hosted Hungary, which finished 4th at the World Championships in Gwangju.
The game was played in Sabadell. Spain took a dream start and earned an 8:1 lead in the middle of the third quarter. But, Hungary was able to come back. The visitors scored seven unanswered goals in the last 11 minutes! The match ended in a tie – 8:8, and the penalty shootout decided the winner. Spain was successful in the shootout, but the Hungarians also could be satisfied with the outcome, as they gained a point, despite they had a terrible start.
The second big match of the day was the clash of Italy and Netherlands in Firenze. The duel was an even contest from the beginning, but the Netherlands was leading for most of the time. Deep into the third period, the Dutch had a 2-goal advantage (11:9). After that, the Italians scored three goals in a row and earned their first lead in the match – 12:11 with 48 seconds remaining on the clock. Fifteen seconds later, Simone van de Kraats scored an equaliser and match entered the penalty shootout. The hero of the shootout was Debby Willemsz, the goalkeeper of the team of the Netherlands, who blocked two shots from the Italians and her team won 16:14.
Russia played without a few main players, but the Russians defeated France easily – 13:9. France hosted Russia in Lille, while the visitors secured a win in the first half. At halftime, they led 8:2.
1 Spain 2 – 5
2 Russia 1 – 3
3 Netherlands 1 – 2
4 Hungary 1 – 1
5 Italy 1 – 1
6 Greece 0 – 0
7 France 2 – 0
The League will be continued in December
