Preliminary Group Play is over and the top 3 teams from Groups A and B have combined to form Main Round Group I and Groups C and D have combined to form Main Round Group II. The top 2 teams from each group will make the semifinals.
All of the teams that didn’t advance to the Main Round have been vanquished to consolation play in the President’s Cup.
There are also more viewing options in the United States as the NBC Olympic Channel will now be airing two matches on TV each day. And, this is really good news: The schedule has changed with more live matches and without truncation to one hour.
NBC TV Schedule: Link
How to watch the matches not on NBC: Link
IHF Daily Preview: Link
Sunday, 8 December
All Times Local (CET is -8 hrs / US ET is -14 hrs)
odds courtesy of Bwin
Main Round Group I
15:00 Serbia vs S Korea (-1.5) Video Link
18:00 Germany vs Netherlands (-2.5) (With Commentary from Paul Bray)
<Will air in the U.S on the NBC Olympic Channel at 4:30 PM (US ET)>
– Olympic Channel Video Link (No VPN Required)
– IHF Website Video Link (VPN Required for some countries)
20:30 Norway (-2.5) vs Denmark Video Link (With commentary from Paul Bray)
<LIVE in the U.S on the NBC Olympic Channel at 6:30 AM (US ET)>
– Olympic Channel Video Link (No VPN Required)
– IHF Website Video Link (VPN Required for some countries)
Olympic Channel Live Stream: Link
This group starts with a bang as the Netherlands takes on Germany in a battle of Group leaders. Norway takes on Denmark in the other NBC match. Should be interesting to see if Norway can bounce back from their loss to the Netherlands.
15:00 Romania vs Russia (-6) Video Link
18:00 Montenegro (-3.5) vs Japan Video Link
20:30 Spain (-1.5) vs Sweden Video Link
Russia should have no problem with a Romanian side that just squeaked into the Main Round. Hosts Japan take on Montenegro and Sweden will try to draw level on points with Spain.
Not a whole lot to say regarding the President’s Cup other than it will be interesting to see how some of the continents outside of Europe fare against each other. And, that it’s really something to see the defending champions, France playing for 13th.
President’s Cup (13th – 16th)
12:30 Angola vs France (-6) Video Link
12:30 Hungary (-7) vs Argentina Video Link
President’s Cup (17th – 20th)
15:00 Slovenia (-1.5) vs Brazil Video Link
18:00 Senegal (-5.5) vs DR Congo Video Link
President’s Cup (21st – 24th)
10:00 Cuba (-10) vs Australia Video Link
12:30 Kazakhstan vs China (-2.5) Video Link