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Tournament Facts 2017

Top handball, over 2,000 spectators - and Germany with victory number 5 at the best-attended junior handball tournament in Europe: These are the hard facts of the 8th edition of the Airport Trophy in Kloten with the U21 national teams from Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland.

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In the Ruebisbachhalle in Kloten, the runner-up at the European Championships prevailed against top-class international competition and relegated European champions Spain to third place. France, third at the European Championships, came second in the tournament. The decision to win the tournament was made in the direct encounter between the two teams, which Germany won 28:24 on the second day of the tournament with an extremely strong defensive performance.
 

The German team also defeated Spain and Switzerland at the tournament - Germany's youth national coach Erik Wudtke was satisfied: "We played a very good tournament and benefited from the training camp before that, where we were able to train a few things that have worked now. " Wutke is pleased to note that Germany defeated France and Spain, two of the favorites at the upcoming World Cup. But that doesn't mean that Germany is the favorite for the Junior World Championship title: "The other nations have experimented a bit here and there, you shouldn't forget that. But we were able to show that we're hard to beat if we succeed to find the right solution."
 

The greatly rejuvenated Swiss U21 selection lost their three tournament appearances, but was still able to gain valuable experience at this high level. In view of the thinned-out squad, rank 4 is not surprising at the end. The lack of breadth in the squad was one of the biggest differences to the competition at this tournament. While the World Cup participants Germany, France and Spain played with top players, the Swiss were missing many players because they are already part of the senior national team.
 

As expected, the tournament featured handball at the absolute top level. More than 2,000 spectators watched the six games on the three days of the game and created an extraordinary atmosphere in the Ruebisbachhalle. With the Frenchman Melvyn Richardson, a well-known player was awarded the Most Valuable Player of T8rniers. Richardsson is the son of former world-class French handball player Jackson Richardsson.

Airport Trophy 2017

Switzerland - France - 23:34 (12:14) (photos)
Germany - Spain 28:25 (15:10) (photos)

France - Germany 24:28 (13:13) (photos)
Switzerland - Spain 25:32 (11:17) (photos)

Spain - France 26:31 (8:16) (photos)
Germany - Switzerland 33:23 (16:8) (photos)

 

final ranking

1. GER 3/6
2. FRA 3/4
3.ESP 3/2
4. SUI 3/0

 

Special awards:

Top scorer: Aleix Gomez Abello (ESP, 21 goals)
Most valuable player: Melvyn Richardsson (FRA)
Best Goal Keeper: Stefan Hanemann (GER)

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