The Olympic champions from the Russian handball team and the European champions from Norway are the first two teams to qualify for the semifinals of the Tokyo Games in the women’s handball tournament.
In the early match of the program, the Russians prevailed with 32:26 over Montenegro. The Russians scored the first four goals in the match and except at halftime, when the difference fell to only two goals, they did not give the Montenegrins a chance to get closer.
Anna Vyakhireva was the top scorer for the Russian team with 8 goals, and Polina Kuznetsova added five more. Jovanka Radicevic played an exceptional match for Montenegro, scoring 10 goals with 13 shots, and Durdina Jaukovic added 8 more goals, but the very short rotation of the Montenegrins did not allow them to fight for anything more.
In the other quarterfinal, which has ended so far, the Olympic champion from Beijing and London beat Norway 26:22.
The Hungarians led with 19:17 in the middle of the second half, but the big class of the Norwegians, who are the only undefeated team so far, weighed heavily at the end of the match and they managed to get it to secure a place in the top 4 for the eighth time. the last nine Olympics.
Kari Brattset Dale was above all for Norway with 7 goals and Heni Raistad added 4. Szandra Szollosi-Zacsik scored 5 goals for Hungary.
In the semifinals, Norway will play against the Russian Olympic Committee. Later today are the other two quarterfinals between France and the Netherlands and Sweden and the Republic of Korea.
