Preliminary group play has ended and the top 3 teams from Groups A and B have combined to form Main Round Group I and Groups C and D have combined to form Main Round Group II. The top 2 teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
All teams that did not qualify for the main round were defeated to play consolation in the President’s Cup.
There are also more viewing options in the United States, as Olympic Channel NBC will now air two games on TV each day. And this is really good news: The schedule has changed with more live matches and no clipping to one hour.
NBC TV schedule: link
How to watch non-NBC games: Link
IHF Daily Overview: Link
Sunday, December 8
All local times (CET is -8 a.m. / US ET is -2 p.m.)
odds courtesy of Bwin
Group I main round
15:00 Serbia vs South Korea (-1.5) Video link
6:00 p.m. Germany vs Netherlands (-2.5) (with commentary by Paul Bray)
– Olympic Channel video link (No VPN required)
– IHF website video link (VPN required for some countries)
20:30 Norway (-2.5) vs Denmark Video Link (With commentary by Paul Bray)
– Olympic Channel video link (No VPN required)
– IHF website video link (VPN required for some countries)
Olympic Channel live stream: link
This group begins with a bang as the Netherlands take on Germany in a battle of group leaders. Norway takes on Denmark in the other NBC game. It should be interesting to see if Norway can bounce back from their loss to the Netherlands.
15:00 Romania vs Russia (-6) Video link
6:00 p.m. Montenegro (-3.5) vs Japan Video link
8:30 p.m. Spain (-1.5) vs Sweden Video link
Russia should have no problem with a Romanian team that just qualified for the main round. The Japanese hosts will face Montenegro and Sweden will try to level the points with Spain.
Not much to say about the President’s Cup except that it will be interesting to see how some of the continents outside of Europe fare against each other. And it’s really something to see defending champions France play for 13th place.
President’s Cup (13th – 16th)
12:30 Angola vs France (-6) Video link
12:30 p.m. Hungary (-7) vs Argentina Video link
President’s Cup (17th – 20th)
15:00 Slovenia (-1.5) vs Brazil Video link
6:00 p.m. Senegal (-5.5) vs DR Congo Video link
President’s Cup (21st – 24th)
10:00 Cuba (-10) vs Australia Video link
12:30 p.m. Kazakhstan vs China (-2.5) Video link