Helsinborg, a city in the south of Sweden separated from Denmark by only four kilometers of sea, will be the place where Montenegrin handball players will fight for glory at the World Championship, but also for the best possible position before the battle for Paris.
Thanks to the bronze medal from the last European Championship, the "lionesses" practically already have a ticket for the Olympic qualifications in their pocket. However, in order for them to be completely calm, the most important thing is that they win at least a place among the top seven at the Handball World Cup, which is jointly organized by Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
In addition to all that, such an outcome would bring Bojana Popović's girls certain privileges before qualifying for Paris.
The Handball Association of Montenegro explained why the "lionesses" are practically already at the door of the Olympic qualifications.
"If the European selection wins gold or silver at the upcoming World Championship, Europe as the best or second best continent will have two places in the qualifying tournaments. As the European champion - Norway, has already secured a place at the Games in Paris, the places belonging to the Old Continent will in the qualifying tournaments, belong to Denmark - the winner of the silver and Montenegro - the bronze from EHF Euro 2022", it was announced from RSCG.
And, one of the "privileges" of placing among the top seven would be a better position before the draw for the three qualifying tournaments, where 12 selections will fight for the remaining six places in Paris in April next year.
"The national teams that occupy the positions from second to seventh place at the World Cup will qualify for the qualification tournaments, and that ranking will go down if there are national teams in those positions that are sure participants in the Games, such as France - the host or Norway - the champion of Europe," they say. RSCG.
In addition to all that, in some calculations, the seventh place at the World Championship would also bring the best group at the qualifying tournaments, because only one European selection would be a rival in the fight for the two places leading to the Games, while the remaining two teams would come from outside the European continent.
There is a lot of combinatorics, and the most important thing for the "lionesses" is to start the right way towards the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and thus towards Paris, from Thursday and the first match with Cameroon (18 p.m.) in Helsingborg.
Apart from the African selection, Montenegro's rivals in Group B at the World Cup will be Hungary and Paraguay. Placement in the main round will be won by the three best teams, who will "cross spears" in Gothenburg in the new group with the three best from group A - Sweden, Croatia, China or Senegal.
From the new group in the main round, only the two best selections advance (to the quarterfinals).
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