Two tickets for the Olympic Games in Paris will be distributed from April 11 to 14, and Montenegrin handball players will fight for them against Germany, Slovenia and Paraguay.
Which of the mentioned four national teams will be the host of the Olympic qualifiers has yet to be decided, and it is expected that the Handball Association of Montenegro will do everything to make it our country. After all, coach Bojana Popović emphasized how important it is for her girls to play in front of their fans.
Germany will certainly arrive at that tournament as the best placed from yesterday's World Championship (sixth place), Slovenia earned the right to qualify with the eighth position from the last European Championship, while Paraguay was third at the Pan American Games.
When it comes to these rivals, tradition is on the side of the "lionesses", since Montenegro has a positive score with all opponents in the tournament.
Our national team has played four games with Germany so far - won three and lost once. At the World Cup in Brazil, the "lionesses" won 25:24, in an insignificant match at EHF Euro 2012 - when they had already reached the semi-finals - they lost 27:20, only to triumph with the same result two years later. Last year in "Morača" in the group stage of the European Championship it was 29:25.
Slovenia has a big name on the bench, the former head coach of Montenegro, Dragan Adžić, and he was the only one who managed to lead the national team to victory against Montenegro in the eight meetings so far - two years ago at the World Cup, when the "lionesses" were weakened.
Paraguay is a nice story from South America, but it is clear that there is nothing to look for in this kind of society. Against this selection, Montenegro played only one match - in the 2nd round of the recently concluded World Championship, when they won with an easy 41:26.
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