Bosnia-Herzegovina win Women’s Trophy after nail-biting final

Bosnia-Herzegovina celebrated the 2018 IHF/EHF Women’s Trophy title after a one-goal win, 27:26, in the final against Belgium in Tuzla on Sunday evening. Following decisive victories for both finalists in their respective semi-finals on Saturday, the gold medal was decided in an exciting match with nothing settled until the final buzzer.

Belgium held the upper hand throughout the first half, taking a 14:12 advantage into the break, before the hosts of the event turned the tables in the second period. Led by eight goals from Helena Curic, Bosnia-Herzegovina fought their way back to the lead and held their nerve through the final minutes as Belgium threatened to level the score.

The bronze-medal match, earlier on Sunday afternoon, also ended with a one-goal score line. Luxembourg claimed the win against Estonia 22:21, after leading 12:10 at half-time. The top scorer of the bronze-medal match was Estonia’s Teele Utsal, with six goals.

Prior to the medal matches, the last 5-8 placement round games were played. Moldova defeated Cyprus 41:24 to rank fifth, and Azerbaijan beat Great Britain 28:22 to finish seventh. It was Azerbaijan’s first win at the 2018 Women’s Trophy, while Moldova had tasted victory in the preliminary round and versus Azerbaijan in the first placement match.

The overall top scorer of the 2018 Women’s Trophy was Azerbaijan’s Kamila Bayramova, with a total of 45 goals in five games. Moldova’s Ecaterina Tolsticov finished second in this ranking, with 38 goals, and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Adelisa Dautovic was third with 34.