The South Korean women's handball team fell to Austria by one goal in their first match at the World Championships.
South Korea, led by Henrik Signel (47-Sweden), fell 29-30 to Austria in the first match of Pool C at the 26th World Women's Handball Championship (co-hosted by Denmark, Norway and Sweden) in Stavanger, Norway on Tuesday.
Down 12-16 at the half, Korea came out firing in the second half, tying the game at 18-18 seven minutes into the second half before pivot Kim Bo-eun (26-Samcheok City Hall) rattled the net to take her first lead of the game at 21-20 with 11 minutes remaining.
From there, the teams went back-and-forth in a back-and-forth battle. However, with the score tied at 29-29, they went to their knees with a one-goal deficit. 카지노사이트넷 A dramatic goal by Woo Bitna (22-Seoul City Hall) with 10 seconds left in regulation tied the game at one, but she then conceded a 7-meter throw to Austria.
Woo was named the game's Most Valuable Player (MVP) after accounting for more than half of her team's points with 11 points and four assists, while "European Wave" Ryu Eun-hee (33, Győrgyi, Hungary) added six points and nine assists.
South Korea was placed in Group C of the A-H bracket at the World Championship alongside European nations including powerhouse Norway, Austria and Greenland. The top three teams in each group will advance to the final round. Korea got off to a shaky start, getting swept by Austria, which is considered a relative underdog in Europe.
The team has been on a roll, starting with the Asian Qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Hiroshima, Japan, in August, followed by the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September and October, and now the World Championships.
South Korea hasn't missed a World Championships since 1978. This will be their 20th appearance at the event. South Korea won the title once before, in 1995, when they became the first non-European nation to win the tournament. In 2013, Brazil became the second non-European nation to win the title. In the last edition, in 2021, South Korea finished 14th out of 32 countries.
South Korea will face Greenland in the second round on Dec. 2.
Sign in to leave a comment.