LONDON - Germany, Sweden, Hungary, France and South Korea have qualified for the women's handball competition at the Beijing Olympics.
Germany scraped past Sweden 27-26 before beating Croatia 22-16 on Saturday at a four-team qualifying tournament in Leipzig. Sweden beat Croatia 24-22 on Sunday to be the second team at the tournament to qualify for the Aug 8-24 Games.
Romania booked their place after a qualifying tournament in Bucharest with two successive wins and Hungary joined them on the plane to Beijing by beating Japan 39-29 on Sunday.
In a third qualifier in Nimes, South Korea, silver medallists four years ago, and France qualified. The two teams had drawn 25-25 on Saturday and 24 hours later France, fourth at Athens 2004, beat Congo 36-19 and Korea defeated Ivory Coast 38-21.
China, Russia, Norway, Angola, Kazakhstan and Brazil had already qualified for the 12-team tournament at the Games. Denmark, gold medallists in Athens, have failed to reach the Beijing Games.
