Women’s handball used to be the equivalent of a guaranteed gold medal for Denmark. Between 1996 and 2004, the Danish ladies finished top of the podium in three consecutive Olympic Games in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.
But the glory days are long gone. The Danes finished outside the medals at Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, and now the Norwegians dominate.
The Danes meanwhile might not even be there. This weekend their participation hangs in the balance as they face three vital qualifiers.
Good … and bad news
The good news is that the Danes are hosting the qualification tournament at the Ceres Arena in Aarhus. The bad news is that they are facing Romania (Fri 19:00), Montenegro (Sat 20:00) and Uruguay (20:00). All the games are live on
DR1.
Romania features the best player in the world in Cristina Neagu, and both European teams beat the Danes during the 2015 World Champ, which was also held in Denmark.
Only the top two qualify, so Denmark definitely needs to beat one of them. It’s a tall order for the former champs.
