After two match days two of the groups are starting to take shape with the most pleasing aspect of it all for the home fans being that their girls are two-from-two.  So, let’s wrap up what happened today and look ahead to tomorrow:

Let’s start in Group B because that’s where the crowd’s attention is most keenly focused.  Brazil were up first in Niš and followed up their comfortable win over Algeria with another one over China.  This time they did the damage mostly in the second half rather than the first but took it home 34:21 – Fernanda da Silva taking her tournament tally to 18 goals.  Serbia were in the hall next – and the crowd swelled from 200 to about 4,000 – and they rampaged past Algeria mixing confident attack with solid defence.  They were 18:6 up at the break and kept going for a 34:14 win – every goal cheered by the raucous crowd as if it had just won the title.  Lastly it was Japan and Denmark.  In 2011 when they met in the World Championship it took extra time to separate them.  Denmark started this time by demolishing China, Japan were edged out in the tournament opener by Serbia.  Today’s game started as a throwback to 2011 with the teams level at the half – Denmark took the spoils though, winning 29:25.

This all leaves Brazil, Serbia and Denmark with 100% records and presumably confident of progressing.  In contrast, Japan, China and Algeria are without any points to their name.  Of those three it’s Japan who look the most likely to take the fourth and final qualifying spot.

Back to Group A which began today with a bit of welcome non-European success.  South Korea rode a strong first half performance to outlast the Netherlands 29:26 and record their first points.  Next up was the possible mismatch of the tournament as DR Congo faced European champions Montenegro.  It didn’t end well as Congo really struggled to find space for shooting and at full time it was 35:9 – Bulatović adding 5 goals to her opening day 9.  And lastly. we had the battle of the blue, white and red flags as Dominican Republic faced France.  It started well for the Dominicans – they were only 5:3 down when I switched on for a bit, and ‘only’ 4:10 at the break.  France rotated a lot and had 11 different scorers but were still able to run out 27:10 winners.

So, the standings for Group A are now France and Montenegro ahead of the pack with 4 points, South Korea and the Netherlands have 2 points, Dominican Republic and DR Congo have zero points.  The smart money probably says that the group will settle to look like that by the end.

Tomorrow sees Groups C and D take to the court.  In Group C Angola have a second opportunity to beat South American opposition – having taken down Argentina they’ll be strong favourites against the notably weaker Paraguay.  Spain lost their opening encounter to Norway but should still have too much for Poland – and the day is rounded off by Argentina facing Norway.  I’ll eat your hat if Norway lose that one.

It could all be one-way traffic in Group D as well.  Tunisia weren’t that impressive in losing to Romania and this time they have the tougher test of Hungary to stand up to.  This is followed by Germany’s probable victory over the Czech Republic – although Germany’s opener against Australia was probably too much of a stroll to judge their overall strength.  Lastly, it is Australia who played with passion if not guile in their opening game against Romania who will surely be far too strong for them.

Remember, you can legally watch this over at livestream.tv for the privilege of paying the IHF a stunning £40.  The alternative is to watch for whatever you have in a Bet365 account and click on livestreaming – all the matches are there.  There are illegal alternatives but make sure your anti-virus is up to date.

And, finally, over on YouTube highlights of the days are appearing the morning after.  That’s everything compressed into just under 10 mins.  The link for those is here.