Handball
DHB women remain undefeated in European Championship qualification
The German national handball team celebrates a clear victory against Israel. photo
© Uwe Anspach/dpa
The DHB selection also lives up to its role as favorite against Israel and is on the way to perfect European Championship qualification.
The German handball players are next in line for the European Championship qualification We achieved a landslide victory and remain undefeated.
The DHB selection, which had already been declared group winners, won the first of two games against Israel in Heidelberg with 35:12 (18:7) and also did not give up any points in the fifth of six games. The best thrower against overwhelmed opponents was Jenny Behrend with five goals. A total of 13 German players were on the top scorers list.
On Sunday the DHB team will meet Israel again. Before the final European Championship qualifier, Markus Gaugisch’s protégés lead qualifying group 2 with 10-0 points. The European Championship finals will take place from November 28th to December 15th in Hungary, Austria and Switzerland.
Self-confidence for upcoming Olympic qualification
Even without the injured playmaker Alina Grijseels, the hosts gave the blatant outsiders no chance from the start in front of 1,323 spectators. The Gaugisch team quickly took the lead and steadily expanded it. Especially in the second half, the Germans hardly allowed anything to happen defensively. Israel never found a solution against the fast counterattacks and the good positional play.
The convincing performances give a lot of self-confidence for the upcoming Olympic qualification. In a four-way tournament with Slovenia, Montenegro and Paraguay, the DHB selection has to come at least second in Neu-Ulm next week in order to secure a ticket to Paris. It would be the first participation in the summer games since 2008. Gaugisch hopes that his playmaker Grijseels can be used again.