No major surprises in the end, although Brazil almost scored a big win against the defending champions. Here‘s a quick summary of day 3:

[b]Group A: [/b] France took 2 points into the Main Round with a narrow 28-26 victory over Croatia. Kazakhstan beat Argentina 26-22 in a battle for 3rd place and seeding in the consolation President’s Cup.

[b]Group B: [/b] A gallant effort by Brazil resulted in a draw match vs. Russia. Brazil needed a 4 goal victory in order to advance and at several points in the match they pressed the lead to 5 goals, but Russia kept coming back. With five minutes left Brazil led 30-27, but Russia rallied yet again for the final score of 31-31. As a result of their earlier loss to Macedonia, the surprise team from the last Championship will now do no better than 13th place. Macedonia took care of Australia 30-13, but the team from down under actually were leading 9-6 after 24 minutes until the wheels fell off and Macedonia asserted themselves. Games are 60 minutes long, but this first half performance should give the Aussies a little bit of confidence as they head in to the President’s Cup.

[b]Group C: [/b]Norway punched Austria’s ticket to the President’s cup with a convincing 33-20 win. Angola sealed their status as the surprise team with a 41-20 victory over the Dominican Republic.

[b]Group D: [/b]Romania took 2 points to the Main Round with a 38-33 win over Poland. China, which challenged Romania in its opener continued its downward slide losing to Tunisia, 30-27. Tunisia will play for 13th place and China can do no better than 19th.

[b]Group E:[/b] Hungary and Spain played to a 26-26 draw, so both teams will take 1 point into the Main Round. Congo beat Japan 32-28, making that 2 victories for the African continent over Asia.

[b]Group F: [/b] Germany took 2 points into the Main Round with a 32-26 victory over South Korea. Ukraine easily beat Paraguay 43-17 to take 3rd place in Group F

[b]Main Round Groups and Standing (Points and GD after 1 Match)
Group I: [/b]
Norway 2 +6
Russia 2 +5
France 2 +2
Croatia 0 -2
Macedonia 0 -5
Angola 0 -6

[b]Group II: [/b]
Germany 2 +6
Romania 2 +5
Hungary 1 0
Spain 1 0
Poland 0 -5
South Korea 0 -6

[b]President’s Cup: 13th Place Brackets[/b]
Group I: Kazakhstan, Brazil, Austria
Group II: Tunisia, Congo, Ukraine

[b]President’s Cup: 19th Place Brackets[/b]
Group I: Argentina, Australia, Dominican Republic
Group II: China, Japan, Paraguay

Three months after the controversial Men’s Olympic Qualification Match between Kuwait and South Korea, the International Handball Federation has responded with an official statement addressing the match and media reports, such as the one previously written at handball.world.com. http://www.handball-welt.de/o.red.c/news.php?GID=1&auswahl=11833

The official statement confirms many of the elements previously reported including the questionable replacement of the experienced German referees with inexperienced Jordanian referees just prior to the start of the match, as well as the on court intervention of the IHF representative, Alexander Kozhukov, during the match to reprimand the referees.

The statement indicates that the match was discussed at an IHF Executive Committee meeting in September and will be further addressed by the IHF Council in Paris on 17-18 Dec, just after the completion of the World Championships. Until that meeting the IHF will make no further pronouncement.

Additionally, the statement emphatically states that the IOC is not considering the removal of Handball from the Olympic program and that this controversy is one of the reasons why the IHF should retain organizational control of handball qualification events.

IHF Official Statement: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=218&idart=968

Match Day 2 saw a mixture of upstart successes and European resurgence. Here’s a quick Summary:

[b]Group A: [/b] Croatia and France easily took care of Argentina and Kazakhstan, and are through to the Main Round. Their head to head match tomorrow will count as their first Main Round game tomorrow. Argentina and Kazakhstan will battle for 3rd with the winner playing for 13th place and the loser playing for 19th in the President’s Cup.

[b]Group B: [/b]Macedonia turned off the Samba music in St Brieuc by storming back from a 1 goal halftime deficit to beat Brazil 26-22. Brazil now will have to beat Russia tomorrow by 4 goals in order to advance to the Main Round. Current Head to Head Goal Differential (Russia (+5), Macedonia (-1), Brazil (-4). Winless Australia is destined to be playing for 19th place in the President’s Cup

[b]Group C: [/b]Angola’s 33-22 blowout of Austria is clearly the upstart sensation so far of the tournament. Many were expecting to see Angola to challenge Austria, but few would have predicted an 11 goal margin of victory. Austria is now destined for the President’s cup, unless they can pull off a highly unlikely 9 goal victory against Norway. Angola should have no problem beating the winless Dominican Republic. Current Head to Head Goal Differential (Norway (+6), Angola (+5), Austria (-11).

[b]Group D: [/b]On the first day of competition China challenged Group favorite Romania, but on day 2 Poland ended their hopes of advancing to the main round by easily defeating them 27-20. Poland and Romania are through to the Main Round and their match tomorrow will count in the standings. China will battle Tunisia for 3rd place.

[b]Group E: [/b] At halftime it looked like Japan might send Spain home early as they lead 17-15. But Spain dominated the second half and went on to win 36-29. Spain and Hungary are through to the Main Round and their match tomorrow will count in the standings. Japan will battle the Congo for 3rd place.

[b]Group F: [/b]South Korea held off Ukraine 26-25 to punch a ticket for the Main Round. South Korea and Germany are through to the Main Round and their match tomorrow will count in the standings. Ukraine should have no problem with Paraguay tomorrow to secure 3rd place.

[b]Likely Main Round Groups: [/b]
Group I: Croatia, France, Russia, Macedonia, Norway, Angola
Group II: Romania, Poland, Hungary, Spain, South Korea, Germany

No upsets in the first day of competition, but the underdog teams made it interesting in several contests, with China scaring Romania, Japan hanging tough against Hungary and Congo narrowly losing to Spain. All told, 8 of the 12 underdogs covered the handicap spread and in many cases by several goals. Day 2 should feature some interesting contests with the upstart teams that battled the group favorites close having realistic expectations of beating the 2nd best team in the Group. Matches to watch:

Group B: Macedonia played the Russians close today, but lost. If they want to advance to the Main Round they'll need to beat favored Brazil.
Group C: Angola will play Austria with the winner likely advancing
Group D: China vs Poland for the Main Round
Group E: Japan vs Spain for the Main Round
Group F: Ukraine vs Korea. Ukraine needs a win or they are headed to the Presidents Cup

Match reports on all of the games are available on the left hand side of the screen from Handball-World. Anybody who wants to help with editing the match reports, please drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com

According to a survey of online Sports Books, Russia and Norway are the odds on favorites to win the 2007 Women’s Handball World Championships. The defending World Champion Russians are slightly more favored at 1.6 to 1 while Norway, the current European Champions are 1.75 to 1. Romania is the next team in line at 5-1 odds and 4 other teams (Hungary, South Korea, France and Germany) are grouped at 15-1.

Longshots grouped between 120-1 and to 500-1 include Spain, Ukraine, Croatia, China, Poland, Austria, Macedonia and Brazil. The remaining 9 nations are all viewed as 3000-1 or greater longshots. Brazil, which won a tournament last weekend in France, however has seen its odds fall in some books to as low as 39-1.

The odd for teams to win each preliminary group are(from www.expekt.com:

Group A: France(1/4 ) Croatia(11/5), Argentina(249/1), Kazakhstan(499/1)
Group B: Russia (1/20), Brazil(8/1), Macedonia(14/1), Australia (499/1)
Group C: Norway(1/20), Austria (10/1), Angola, (14/1), Dominican Republic(499/1)
Group D: Romania(1/10), Poland(9/2), China(39/1), Tunisia (249/1)
Group E: Hungary(1/5), Spain(27/10), Japan(99/1), Republic of the Congo(249/1)
Group F: South Korea(11/10), Germany(13/10), Ukraine(4/1), Paraguay(499/1)

With only 2 teams advancing to the main round, these odds, on paper, point to a only a few key battles in the preliminary round. In Group B, Brazil and Macedonia should battle it out for the 2nd spot and in Group C, Angola should challenge Austria. Group F could be a real dogfight, with South Korea, Germany and Ukraine all having realistic expectations to reach the Main Round.

The handicap (point spread) lines have also been posted for the first day’s games on Sunday. Australia has the dubious distinction of the being the biggest underdog with a 31 goal handicap vs. Brazil. The Aussies aren’t likely to pull off a miracle, but with several players playing competitively in Europe they are unlikely to suffer a defeat similar to 2005’s 57-9 loss against Hungary. Paraguay is the other huge underdog and they have 30 goal handicap vs. the South Koreans.

[b]Odds to win World Championships (www.bet365.com)[/b]
Russia 1.6 to 1
Norway 1.75 to 1
Romania 5-1
Hungary 15-1
Korea 15-1
France 15-1
Germany 15-1
Spain 120-1
Croatia 120-1
Ukraine 150-1
China 150-1
Poland 150-1
Austria 250-1
Macedonia 300-1
Brazil 500-1
Angola 3000-1
Japan 5000-1
Tunisia 5000-1
Argentina 5000-1
Australia 5000-1
Congo 5000-1
Dominican Republic 5000-1
Kazakhstan 5000-1
Paraguay 5000-1

[b]2 December 07 Handicap Lines (www.bet365.com)[/b]
Austria -15.0 vs. Dominican Republic
Brazil -31.0 vs. Australia
Croatia -14.5 vs. Kazakhstan
France -16.0 vs. Argentina
Germany -3.0 vs. Ukraine
Hungary -14.5 vs. Japan
Norway -8.5 vs. Angola
Poland -5.5 vs. Tunisia
Romania -12.0 vs. China
Russia -9.5 vs. Macedonia
South Korea -30.0 vs. Paraguay
Spain -11.0 vs. Congo

While only 1 team will claim the title of Champion at the World Championships next week in France, several nations will be playing for 6 spots in 3 Olympic Qualification Tournaments which will take place 28-30 March 2008. The 3 tournaments will consist of 4 teams playing a single round robin over 3 days with the top 2 teams going to the Olympics. Some nations have already earned spots in a qualification tournament, but they will be hoping to improve their chances by placing 2nd to 4th and thereby earning the right to host a tournament. Nations will be assigned to qualification tournaments using the following format:

[b]Tournament 1: [/b]
2nd Place WC (Host)
7th Place WC
2nd Place Europe: Russia
2nd Place PATHF: Cuba

[b]Tournament 2: [/b]
3rd Place WC (Host)
6th Place WC
2nd Place Africa: TBD in January
3rd Place from the Continental Championship for the best Continent at WC (Currently France, Argentina, South Korea or Africa-TBD)

[b]Tournament 3: [/b]
4th Place WC (Host)
5th Place WC
2nd Place Asia: South Korea
3rd Place from the Continental Championship for the 2nd best Continent at WC (Currently France, Argentina, South Korea or Africa-TBD) or Oceania

But it won’t be as simple as taking the teams that finish 2nd through 7th and writing their names in the open space. As some nations have already received automatic qualification for the Olympics they won’t count in the standings. Additionally, there is a hierarchy for each path to qualify, so it’s important that you follow the higher precedence first in order to determine who qualifies. Confused? Let’s follow it step by step:

First, there are 4 ways in which a nation can qualify to participate in the Olympics. Those 4 ways in order of precedence are

Be the host nation (1 slot) ([b]China[/b])
Win the World Championship (1 slot) (TBD)
Win a Continental Championship (4 slots) (Norway, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Africa-TBD)
Place 1st or 2nd in one of 3 Qualification Tournaments (6 slots)

These 4 methods are also in order of precedence. This means that if a nation has qualified via 2 or more methods, its qualification is associated with the higher of the two methods. For example, if the host nation China were to win the World Championship (an unlikely prospect), it would qualify as the host nation, not the World Champion. Similarly, if the European Champion, Norway, were to win the World Championship (a definite possibility) they would qualify for the Olympics as the World Champion. The significance of this precedence order is the bearing it will have on the nations waiting in the wings to secure either an automatic bid or bids to one of the three qualification tournaments. For instance, should Norway with the World Championship, Russia (2nd place at the European Championship) would receive the automatic European slot.

Further complicating matters is that there is an order of precedence to determine who will participate in the 3 qualification tournaments. Nations can qualify for these tournaments in 4 ways

4a) Place 2nd -7th at the World Championships (6 slots)
4b) Place 2nd at their Continental Championship (4 slots)
4c) Place 3rd at their Continental Championship (if their Continent is ranked 1st at the World Championships) (1 slot)
4d) Place 3rd at their Continental Championship (if their Continent is ranked 2nd at the World Championships or Oceania Champion if Oceania places 1-12 at the World Championships) (1 slot)

So, as nations earn their spots at the World Championships the next nation in the pecking order will move up, causing a complex series of musical chairs. Here’s the outlook for the different Nations (grouped by their continent)

[b]EUROPE[/b]
[b]Norway:[/b] Already qualified for the Olympics as the European Champion
[b]Russia:[/b] As the 2nd place team at the European Championship, Russia has already secured an Olympic Qualification tournament bid. Russia, of course, will be looking to win the WC, but the next best think would be a Norwegian victory as that would give them the 1st place European spot and automatic qualification for the Olympics
[b]France:[/b] Barring an unlikely uprising from the non European teams, France has already secured a spot in an Olympic qualification tournament since they are the 3rd place team from the European Championship.
[b]Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Spain and Austria:[/b] These nations can also secure the 2nd or 3rd place Europe spots. But the farther you go down in the pecking order, the more difficult it will be. Germany simply needs Norway to win the title or for France or Russia to finish in the top seven. Austria, on the other hand would need for 6 or 7 of the teams that placed ahead of them at the European Championships to finish in the top 7. Possible, but not likely. (Scenario details are below)
[b]Macedonia, Ukraine and Romania: [/b] These teams have only 1 way to secure an Olympic Qualification Tournament bid. They have to finish in the top 7.

[b]Sweden:[/b] Sweden isn’t playing in the World Championships, but they still can still get a spot in one of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments as the 2nd or 3rd place European team if teams that placed ahead of them at the European Championships also secure the 1st to 7th place spots at the World Championships. (Scenario details are below)

[b]Denmark:[/b] Well, the Danes are mathematically out. But, if Austria were to qualify in this manner, there will probably be some soul searching in Copenhagen. If Denmark could have placed 10th instead of 11th at the European Championships they would have qualified instead of the Austrians.

[b]ASIA[/b]
[b]China:[/b] Already qualified as Olympic Host
[b]Kazakhstan: [/b] Already qualified for the Olympics as the Asian Champion
[b]South Korea:[/b] As the second place team at the Asian Championship they’ve already secured a spot in an Olympic Qualification Tournament. The defending Silver medalists will be looking to bounce back from their surprising failure to secure the automatic Asian spot and place in the top 4, so they can host an Olympic Qualification Tournament
[b]Japan: [/b] As the third place team at the Asian Championship they will be hoping that Asia can secure the 2nd best continent. If Asia does, Japan will be placed in an Olympic Qualification Tournament

[b]PATHF[/b]
[b]Brazil:[/b] Already qualified for the Olympics as the PATHF Champion
[b]Argentina: [/b] As the third place team at the PATHF Championship they will be hoping that Brazil can secure the 2nd best continent for the PATHF.
Dominican Republic, Paraguay: These teams have only 1 way to secure an Olympic Qualification Tournament bid. They have to finish in the top 7.

[b]Cuba: [/b]Cuba won’t be at the WC, but as the 2nd place team at the PATHF Championship they’ve already secured a spot in an Olympic Qualification Tournament.

[b]AFRICA[/b]
[b]Angola, Tunisia, Republic of the Congo:[/b] Africa’s continental championship will be played in January 2008, so the automatic Olympic bid is TBD. One of these teams will likely get that automatic bid, but for now they will need a top 7 finish

[b]OCEANIA[/b]
[b]Australia:[/b] Oceania doesn’t have an automatic bid for the Olympics. To get a place in an Olympic Qualification Tournament Australia will need to get 12th place or better.

[b]Unintended Consequences?: [/b] Because the IHF chose to use a set formula for assigning teams to the Qualification Tournaments the Bronze medal game could result in the 2 nations participating questioning the benefits of winning. Why? Well, by that point in the tournament it will likely be clear as to which teams will be participating in each tournament. And in all probability hosting Tournament 3 will be a much better proposition than hosting Tournament 2. Tournament 2 will include the 6th place World’s Team, an African team and a European team while Tournament 3 will have the 5th place World’s Team, an Asian team (South Korea if they don’t finish top 7, otherwise Japan), and probably either Cuba or Qatar. If South Korea places in the top 7, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to quickly assess that Tournament 3 would be a much easier tournament for qualification. And in order to get the better tournament you would [b][i]need to lose the Bronze Medal game[/i][/b]. Of course, things could pan out differently, but the teams will know before they take the court who their potential opponents will be. The solution: Next time around a seeded draw would be a way to avoid that situation.

[b]Detail for European 2nd or 3rd place:[/b] As there are several European teams at the World Championship, its fairly complex as to the different exact scenarios. Additionally, Norway’s threat to win the title complicates the scenarios as a title victory for them also gives Russia automatic qualification. Suffice to say here’s the details for those so inclined.

[b]If Norway wins the WC[/b]

To get the Europe 2nd place spot….
France: Needs no help
Germany: Needs France to place from 2nd to 7th
Hungary: Needs all of the following nations (France, Germany) to place from 2nd to 7th
Sweden: Needs all of the following nations (France, Germany, Hungary) to place from 2nd to 7th

To get the Europe 3rd place spot….
Germany: Needs no help
Hungary: Needs 1 of the following nations (France, Germany) to place from 2nd to 7th
Sweden: Needs 2 of the following nations (France, Germany, Hungary) to place from 2nd to 7th
Croatia: Needs all of the following nations (France, German, Hungary) to place from 2nd to 7th
Poland: Needs all of the following nations (France, German, Hungary, Croatia) to place from 2nd to 7th
Spain: Needs all of the following nations (France, German, Hungary, Croatia, Poland) to place from 2nd to 7th
Austria: Needs all of the following nations (France, German, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Spain) to place from 2nd to 7th

[b]If Norway doesn’t win the WC[/b]

To get the Europe 2nd place spot….
Russia: Needs no help
France: Needs Russia to place from 1st to 7th
Germany: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France) to place from 1st to 7th
Hungary: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France, Germany) to place from 1st to 7th
Sweden: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France, Germany, Hungary) to place from 1st to 7th

To get the Europe 3rd place spot….
France: Needs no help
Germany: Needs 1 of the following nations (Russia, France) to place from 1st to 7th
Hungary: Needs 2 of the following nations (Russia, France, Germany) to place from 1st to 7th
Sweden: Needs 3 of the following nations (Russia, France, Germany, Hungary) to place from 1st to 7th
Croatia: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France, German, Hungary) to place from 1st to 7th
Poland: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France, German, Hungary, Croatia) to place from 1st to 7th
Spain: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France, German, Hungary, Croatia, Poland) to place from 1st to 7th
Austria: Needs all of the following nations (Russia, France, German, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Spain) to place from 1st to 7th