Hosts reach final in front of impressive crowd in Debrecen

5,500 fans packed into the Fönix Hall in Debrecen to enjoy semi-finals day of the Women’s Junior (U20) World Championship on Friday.

First up was the all-European clash between Russia and Norway and the opening exchanges went the way of Russia, who were hoping to reach their third consecutive final at this level.

Norway eventually clicked into gear, however, and never looked back. A narrow lead at the break turned into complete domination in the second period.

Sofie Ege Gronlund between the posts and Henny Reistad’s seven-goal haul were key for Norway in their 30:23 win, which sends them to their first U20 world final since 2010.

Korea only need to look back to 2014 for their last final appearance, a win over Russia, but emulating that was always going to be a huge task against hosts Hungary.

With a big crowd supporting them and an impressive run to this stage, Hungary must have felt like reaching the final was their destiny – and they certainly played that way.

There was no stopping Hungary, and Noémi Háfra in attack, as they built on a 14:11 half-time lead to win 30:25 at a canter.

The finalists already met in the preliminary round of this competition, a 35:27 win for Hungary, and the hosts will be hoping for more of the same in Saturday’s gold medal match, which is at 20:00 hrs local time and can be watched on the tournament's official website here. 

There is a live score available on the IHF website and updates on IHF's social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.