The 3rd round of the preliminary group stage of the World Handball Championship, which is taking place these days at the venues of St. Petersburg, became a real test for the Ukrainian handball players. And it is not surprising, because they were opposed by one of the most realistic contenders for medals at the 17th world championship – the team of Romania. Over the past 2 years, the "blue-yellows" had not lost to Gheorghe Tadici's squad in either official or friendly tournaments, however today our opponents managed to improve their "statistics" in games against the Ukrainians... \n \nHaving "smashed" the right "nine" of the "yellow-reds" goalkeeper Dina Luminita with a long-range shot, our backcourt player Anastasia Borodina changed the score in the confrontation for the first time – 1:0... Then it was Tetiana Vorozhtsova's turn to show herself: no matter how Lutsa Steluta tried to convert a seven-meter throw in favor of the Romanians, the goalkeeper of the Hungarian "Debrecen" did not allow her to do so... \n \nHowever, 10 minutes passed, and after two "signature" penetrations of Tadici's left winger Petruța Ramona Maier, the bronze medalists of Athens were already "burning" – 1:4. Borodina's "shot", and again "in response" 5 "dry" attacks by the opponents – 2:9! Perhaps the main organizer of these two "spurts" of the Romanians was... Luminita! The best goalkeeper of the 2000 European Championship, of course, did not take on the functions of a bombardier, however her confident actions at the last line became a solid foundation for massive attacks by her teammates. Borodina's jump shot – a save by Luminita, Reznir's long-range "sting" – Dina "in place", a "feint" and "lunge" by Verheliuk – and again the hand of the experienced goalkeeper finds itself on the trajectory of the ball's flight... \n \nThe game stabilized somewhat after the 16th minute: at least, the Ukrainians, thanks to tougher defense, slowed down the opponents and did not let them make the gap catastrophic... Our girls could have gone to the break with a more "acceptable" score, however, having received a one-player numerical advantage in the last minute, they conceded another "raid" by Maier – 10:17. \n \nThe Ukrainian national team took a kind of "mini-revenge" for this already at the beginning of the second half of the match: Borodina, Liapina and Shutska clearly converted their chances – 13:17. It was noticeable that the coach of our team, Leonid Ratner, found, as they say, the "right words" during the game break: confidence and composure appeared in the actions of the "blue-yellows", weakened at the start of the match by the quick breakaway of the Romanians. A rather indicative episode was in the 39th minute of the match: before the handball player of Zaporizhzhia "Motor" Olena Reznir had even been suspended, the Ukrainians in numerical disadvantage instantly conducted an aggressive lunge at the spearhead with Maryna Verheliuk – 18:20! And 8 minutes before the final whistle, Liapina and company, thanks to quick breakaways by Siukalo and Reznir, spectacularly equalized the score – 25:25... The emotional Gheorghe Tadici decides to take a timeout (with 26:25 in favor of his team). "The main thing is to hold firm in defense..." – using the pause, Leonid Ratner calmed his charges. The game resumed: an inaccuracy by Lekushanu, and the Ukrainians' attack after Shutska's pass is completed with a "low" shot by Reznir – 26:26. Another moment, and the "blue-yellows" take the lead for the second time in the match: this time Iryna (Shutska) added another interception to her tally and "sent into a breakaway" her captain Natalia Liapina – 27:26! And this was in the 57th minute... \n \nHope for "rescue" after "-7" following the first half of the match began to take on real outlines. However, the Romanians once again reminded that at the current world championship in Russia they are performing with their strongest, and therefore most experienced, squad. Lekushanu, Maier and Gogirla cold-bloodedly "shoot up" our goal and that's it – 30:27 in favor of Tadici's team... \n \nUKRAINE – ROMANIA – 27:30 (10:17, 17:13) \n \nUKRAINE: Vorozhtsova – saved 13 of 39 shots on her goal, Makarenko – 1 of 5 / Borodina – 6 goals, Shutska – 6, Siukalo – 5, Liapina – 3, Reznir – 3, Radchenko – 2, Verheliuk – 1, Yatsenko – 1, Shynkarenko, Shymkute, Sakada, Shybanova \n \nON FRIDAY THE UKRAINIANS WILL FACE ARGENTINA... \n\nTomorrow at the World Championship is a rest day, and already on December 9 its participants will again be "earning" important points. Our girls will face a meeting with the team of Argentina. In the history of confrontations between these two national teams we have only one official match: at the 2003 world championship in Croatia, the "blue-yellows" defeated the South Americans with a double advantage – 28:14. \n \nArgentine handball players are not distinguished by (and this is understandable) any tactical "know-how" or skill, however they compensate for these "minuses" of theirs with sometimes overly rough play. This was noted by both Hanna Siukalo and Natalia Liapina, as well as the coaching staff of our team. \n \nTherefore the main thing for the Ukrainians is to expend as little strength as possible in this confrontation, because now their most important subgroup match is still ahead: in the final round of the preliminary stage of the competition (on Saturday) they will play against the reigning world champions, the handball players of France... \n \nWorld Championship. St. Petersburg. \n\nPreliminary round. \n\nAll results of the 3rd round + tournament standings of the groups \n\nGroup "A". \n\nJapan – Uruguay – 44:22 (24:10, 20:12) \n\nRussia – Netherlands – 34:22 (16:10, 18:12) \n\nChina – Croatia – 29:35 (16:18, 13:17) \n\n1. Russia – 6 points \n2. Netherlands – 4 \n3. Croatia – 4 \n4. China – 2 \n5. Japan – 2 \n6. Uruguay – 0 \n\nGroup "B". \n\nHungary – Slovenia – 27:27 (11:14, 16:13) \n\nAngola – South Korea – 32:35 (16:13, 16:22) \n\nNorway – Australia – 47:10 (22:4, 25:6) \n\n1. Hungary - 5 \n2. Slovenia – 5 \n3. Norway – 4 \n4. South Korea – 4 \n5. Angola – 0 \n6. Australia – 0 \n\nGroup "C". \n\nDenmark – Germany – 27:26 (12:14, 15:12) \n\nPoland – Austria – 25:28 (14:13, 11:15) \n\nBrazil – Côte d'Ivoire – 34:26 (17:14, 17:12) \n\n1. Denmark – 6 \n2. Germany – 4 \n3. Austria – 4 \n4. Brazil – 4 \n5. Poland – 0 \n6. Côte d'Ivoire – 0 \n\nGroup "D". \n\nUKRAINE – Romania – 27:30 (10:17, 17:13) \n\nFrance – Cameroon – 33:17 (14:9, 19:8) \n\nMacedonia – Argentina – 32:15 (16:9, 16:6) \n\n1. Romania – 6 \n2. France – 6 \n3. Macedonia – 3 \n4. Ukraine – 3 \n5. Argentina – 0 \n6. Cameroon – 0 \n\nOn Friday in our group "D" the following will play: \n\nUKRAINE – Argentina (match start – at 17:30 Kyiv time) \n\nCameroon – Macedonia \n\nFrance – Romania