World Women's Handball Championship 2019
2019 World Women's Handball Championship
The 2019 World Women’s Handball Championship is coming to Japan. All matches will be held in Kumamoto city in Kyushu from 30 November to 15 December 2019. These locations in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture will host the championship. For them, such a forum is no longer a novelty. In 2017, the men's handball world championship was held here.
They are located close to each other and can be considered a single urban agglomeration.
The Council of the International Handball Federation decided in their meeting after the Congress in Doha that the application from the Kumamoto region will be entrusted to the Organization of the World Championship. In addition, the Japanese Organizing Committee wants to have a venue in Tokyo in order to prepare for the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.
Japan (home team), France (world title champion), Romania, Russia and the Netherlands were directly qualified in the competition groups. Also, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, China, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Angola, DR Congo, Senegal and Cuba qualified as continental championships.
At the first stage of the championship, 24 qualification teams by lot were already divided into four groups of six teams, where they would play among themselves. The best three teams from each group form at the second stage two more groups of six teams. The two best teams from the groups of the second stage go to the semifinals, after which the match for 3rd place and the final will take place. National teams from third places in the second stage groups will play fifth place among themselves. Fourth teams in groups will argue for seventh place. The rest of the seats until the 23rd will be played according to the playoff system between the teams depending on the places they occupied in the groups in the first and second stages.
The draw of the groups took place at the Kanze Noh Theater in Tokyo, and was attended by Hassan Mousafa, the president of the International Handball Federation.
Norway will face the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Angola and Cuba in the women's handball World Cup in Group A. Norway was the runner up in the World Cup in 2017. It does not look good for Kari Aalvik Grimsbø and Amanda Kurtovic considering the handball World Cup in Japan. Knee injuries probably stop both. The probability to see them in Japan is small, says national team manager Thorir Hergeirsson.
Group B consists of Germany, France, Denmark, Korea, Brazil and Australia. France is the favorite of getting the first place.
The Romanian women's handball team was assigned in Group C of this year's World Championship, along with Hungary, Spain, Montenegro, Sengal and Kazakhstan. Romania lost against Czech Republic 2 years ago, finishing 10th.
The Russian team - the silver medalist of the European championship - has a minimum task - reaching the semifinals. Russia is playing in the Group D with Sweden, Japan, China, Argentina and DR Congo.
The leaders of women's handball are French, Norwegian, Russian, Dutch, Swedish and Danish teams. The strength of the national teams is fully reflected in the final standings of the 2017 World Cup. Experts believe that the national teams from the top five will play medals in the 24th edition of the championship.