'Ryu Eunhee Scores 10 Goals' Women's Handball Loses to Netherlands for 2 Consecutive Defeats... Korea-Japan Match on 29th

Women's Handball National Team Player Ryu Eun-hee
Photo by Korea Handball Federation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Our women's handball national team suffered a second consecutive defeat in the Tokyo Olympics group stage.

On the 27th, Korea lost 36-43 to the Netherlands in the second match of the women's handball Group A league held at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Having lost 27-39 to Norway two days earlier, Korea failed to secure a victory in the first two matches of this tournament.

Korea will play its third group stage match against Japan on the 29th.

Korea is competing in Group A against Norway, the Netherlands, Japan, Montenegro, and Angola. The top four teams from this group will advance to the quarterfinal knockout stage.

Korea aimed to win at least one match against Norway and the Netherlands, considered the top two teams in Group A, but suffered two consecutive losses. Now, Korea must accumulate as many wins as possible in the remaining three matches to reach the quarterfinals.

Facing the 2019 World Championship winner, the Netherlands, Korea maintained a relatively close game until the end of the first half, trailing 12-13.

However, the Netherlands, led by tall players with excellent aerial ability such as Danick Sneijder and Kelly Dulfer, scored consecutively, widening the gap to 12-18.

Just before the end of the first half, Korea closed the gap to four goals with consecutive scores by Im Mi-kyung (Japan Omron) and Ryu Eun-hee (Hungary Gyori), and early in the second half, they narrowed the score to 17-20. However, the rest of the game saw the gap consistently exceed five goals, ending in a victory for the Netherlands.

Ryu Eun-hee fought hard with 10 goals and Im Mi-kyung scored 9 goals, but the defense rate was disappointing, as they blocked only 3 out of 46 opponent shots.