The day of the quarter finals ended in high drama with the match between Sweden and Russia being settled at the very end of extra time by two penalties.  Both were legitimate (as much as you can tell in real time on an internet stream) but that didn’t stop the sense of injustice for the victims.  Sweden were the unlucky ones – going down 31:30 after a compelling match.  They chose often to defend with five on the line and one out blocking – and in extra time the Russians exploited that gap.  There really wasn’t much to choose between them though and this really was a high quality game.

The most one-sided of the quarter finals was, possibly surprisingly, the one between France and Norway.  The Norwegians owned a 17:5 half time lead and could afford to only win the second half by a goal, running out 32:19 winners.  In the other matches, the non-European adventure is over as Japan couldn’t hold a half time lead against Denmark, losing 25:31 and Romania were too strong throughout for Hungary.

The semi finals will be played on 25 August and will be Romania v Denmark and Russia v Norway.