Second day at the federal centre of Trieste of the women's pre-Olympic tournament that will award the last two passes for the Tokyo Games. Group stage, with one-way matches, until 21st January; then on the 22nd the quarter-finals, the following day the decisive semi-finals and on the 24th the finals.
Group B. Another large victory with minimal effort for Hungary, who beat Kazakhstan 23-6. The game was immediately downhill for the Hungarians, who were ahead 7-2 after one period and 12-5 at the half. The Hungarians were once again led by captain Keszthelyi who scored nine more goals. Biro's team will face Greece tomorrow in the match that will be worth the first place in the group B. Greece won 20-1 over Israel. It was little more than a training session for the Greeks: the technical, tactical and athletic gap between the two teams was too wide. For the Greeks, who conceded the only goal to the Israelis at the end of the third period, best scorer Eleftheria Plevritou with seven goals, Tsoukala and Xenaki with four. 
Group A. The match between Italy and Holland closed in a draw, 7-7, at the end of a vibrant match played at a high pace. The Setterosa remained attached to the Orange for the entire match, then passed with Marletta in the middle of the fourth period, but Keuning tie a minute from the end. Thanks to this result, if the Netherlands beat France by more than 13 goals on Thursday, they will finish first in the group. Its match will follow the game between Greece and Hungary for the first place in the other group.
At the end of the programme, France overcame Slovakia 17-9 to take third place in the group. The Slovaks, ahead 8-6 in the third period, held until 8-8; then the decisive 9-0 break by the French women made it 17-8 and the match was decided.

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Day 1 - Thuesday 19 January
(B) Hungary-Israel 27-2 (7-2, 3-0, 9-0, 8-0)
(B) Greece-Kazakhstan 13-5 (4-1, 4-1, 3-2, 2-1)
(A) France-Italy 6-19 (1-5, 0-5, 2-3, 3-6)
(A) Netherlands-Slovakia 22-2 (6-0, 4-0, 8-0, 4-2)

Day 2 - Wednesday 20 January
(B) Hungary-Kazakhstan 23-6 (7-2, 6-3, 5-1, 5-0)
(B) Greece-Israel 20-1 (7-0, 3-0, 5-1, 5-0)
(A) Netherlands-Italy 7-7 (2-1, 1-2, 3-3, 1-1)
(A) France-Slovakia 17-9 (5-2, 1-5, 6-1, 5-1)

Day 3 - Thursday 21 January
14.00 (B) Hungary-Greece
16.00 (A) France-Netherlands
18.00 (A) Italy-Slovakia
20.00 (A) Israel-Kazakhstan

Quarter finals - Friday 22 January*
(13) 14:00 2A-3B
(14) 16:00 3A-2B
(15) 18:00 1A-4B
(16) 20:00 4A-1B

Semi finals - Saturday 23 January
(17) 14:00 LG13-LG16
(18) 16:00 LG14-LG15
(19) 18:00 WG13-WG16
(20) 20:00 WG14-WG15

Finals - Sunday 24 January
(21) 14:00 LG17-LG18
(22) 16:00 WG17-WG18
(23) 18:00 LG19-LG20
(24) 20:30 WG19-WG20

photo credit Andrea Staccioli / DBM