Fans were jubilant after Norway’s popular national women’s handball team, known as håndballjentene (the handball girls), beat their Swedish rivals on Tuesday and advanced to the semi-finals of the European Championships in Belgrade.
Playing before more than a thousand handball fans, the Norwegians beat Sweden’s national team by a score of 28-25. The championships in Serbia began last week and run until December 16.
Anja Edin was the heroine of the game, coming off the reserve bench after a difficult first half to steal the show against Sweden. She was widely given credit for steering her teammates towards victory, scoring nine times, executing several passes that resulted in others’ goals, and also playing strong defense.
“This is unreal,” Edin from Telemark told news bureau NTB. “I didn’t think I’d get to travel here. It’s wonderful to contribute to the team.” Coach Thorir Hergeirsson was impressed, saying “I’ve never seen her so good at this level.”
The Norwegian team has four European Championship victories and also won the World Championships and the Olympics last summer. Now they’re assured of another medal and will know after Saturday’s semi-final whether they’ll be playing for gold on Sunday.
newsinenglish.no staff
