Handball: ÖHB women at the start of the World Cup with a narrow victory over South Korea

The red-white-red team narrowly won the first match against South Korea in Group C with 30:29 (16:12). The last goal was a seven-meter penalty by Katarina Pandza just after the game had expired. This means that after the first match you are very close to your desired promotion to the main round. Austria will now face Norway on Friday (8:15 p.m.) and, as favorites, Greenland on Sunday (5:50 p.m.). In the 22nd duel with South Korea it was only the eighth victory, the first since the 2001 World Cup (31:29), which was similarly close.

Coach Herbert Müller’s team was initially only 0-1 behind, but quickly managed a 5-2 and 9-3 lead by the 11th minute. Afterwards, the South Koreans took advantage of some of Austria’s mistakes and came back up to 7:9. By the break, Austria had regained a four-goal lead against the Asian champions.

After the break, Austria made it 12:17, but the Asians got stronger and managed to equalize for the first time since the 2-2 draw in the 38th minute. Now the game was on a knife’s edge and for the first time since the beginning, the ÖHB women fell behind 20:21 in the 42nd minute.

The game remained exciting until the end: At 25:26, Ines Ivancok had to leave the field for two minutes, but Austria still managed to make it 27:26. After one of several important saves by goalkeeper Petra Blazek, a two-goal lead was regained at 28:26 in the 58th minute. At 29:27 the decision was still not made, Korea managed to equalize. Only the seven meter brought victory.