The female team of Russia successfully defended the title of the world champion for juniors. Russia defeated the Netherlands 11:5 in the final of the 13th World Women’s U20 Championships, held in Funchal (Portugal).
Italy won the bronze medal, by edging out Greece in the match for the 3rd place – 9:8. This is the Italian’s first medal at the Women’ World Junior Championships in history.
Spain clinched the 5th place. The USA finished the championships in the 6th place, ahead of Hungary and 8th-placed China.
World Women’s U20 Championships, Day 7
Final
Netherlands – Russia 5:11 (3:5, 0:2, 2:2, 0:2)
Netherlands: Buis, Rogge 3, Voorvelt, Van der Weijden 1, Keuzer, Van de Kraats 1, Ten Broek, Schaap, Stertefeld, Schinkel, Jutte, Williemsen, Oosting. Coach: Doudesis.
Russia: Golovina, Kempf 4, Zaplatina, Pystina 1, Diachenko 1, Popova 2, Chagochkina 1, Leonova, Galimzianova, Tolkunova 2, Shapkina, Lipskaia, Stepkhina. Coach: Markoch
Russia staged another outstanding performance in the final match. Without doubt, their gold medal is well deserved, as the Russians dominated throughout the tournament.
After an opening 1:1, the Russians rushed to a 5:1 lead deep into the first period. The Netherlands reduced the gap in the finish of the quarter (3:5). After that, Russia kept the Dutch scoreless for almost 14 minutes, while it increased the advantage to four goals (7:3).
Rogge broke the silence of the Dutch team with a goal for 4:7 in the 5th minute of the third quarter. Before the last period, Russia built a new 4-goal lead (9:5). The Russians opened the fourth period with a nice action goal for a 10:5 advantage. It was clear that the winner was decided after that, despite the Netherlands, the bronze medal winner at the 2017 World Championships, didn’t give up. The Dutch were tireless and persistent. But they had a great opponent on the other side. Russia was too strong for all rivals at the championships in Funchal.
Bronze medal match
Italy – Greece 9:8 (4:1, 2:2, 2:3, 1:2)
Italy: Cocchiere 3, Zanetta 2, Repetto 2, Amadeo 1, Colletta 1.
Greece: Kanetidou 2, Elliniadi 2, Protopapas 1, Ninou 1, Myrokefalitaki 1, Kontoni 1.
Italy scored first three goals in the match and even had a 4-goal lead in the middle of the 2nd quarter (6:2), but the Italians didn’t secure a win until the last buzzer. After a bad start, Greece started climbing back and cut the deficit to 1 in the opening minutes of the third quarter (5:6). Italy built a new 3-goal advantage (8:6). Still, Greece didn’t surrender and fought hard until the end. However, Italy kept the led and clinched the bronze with a minimal 9:8 win. The last chance for Greece to equalise was an extra player attack in the last 30 seconds, but they didn’t find the net.
Classification 5th-6th
USA – Spain 9:10 (0:0, 4:3, 2:3, 3:4)
USA: Roemer 3, Neushul 2, WUnbelt 1, Klass 1, Weber 1, Flynn 1.
Spain: Velayos 3, Diez 2, Amoros 1, Arrones 1, Ruiz 1, Espinagosa 1, Zurita 1.
After the scoreless first period, the Team USA took a two-goal lead in the second quarter (2:0, 3:1, 4:2). After the 3-minute break, Spain levelled the score for the first time (4:4), while they went ahead at the beginning of the last quarter (7:6). The Americans equalised soon after that (7:7), but the Spaniards netted two goals in a span of 48 seconds to went 9:7 up three minutes from the end. They entered the last minute with a 10:8 advantage. The Americans’ consolation goal came too late – 17 seconds before the end.
Classification 7th – 8th
China – Hungary 7:12 (0:4, 2:3, 2:1, 3:4)
China: Shuyun 2, Bozhou 2, Yizhen 1, Xiao 1, Xinyan 1.
Hungary: K. Farago 4, Rybanska 3, Armai 2, Valvyi 2, B. Farago 1.
Hungary took a flying start and quickly earned a 4:0 advantage. At halftime, the gap was 5 goals (7:2). The second half was balanced, so the Hungarians kept the big advantage to win the 7th place.
Final rankings
1 Russia
2 Netherlands
3 Italy
4 Greece
5 Spain
6 USA
7 Hungary
8 China
9 Australia
10 Canada
11 Brazil
12 South Africa
13 Japan
14 New Zealand
15 Kazakhstan
16 Portugal
