Undefeated Ukraine celebrate W19 EHF Championship title in Georgia

European Handball Federation

20 July 2025, 19:40

Ukraine lifted the Women's 19 EHF Championship 2025 trophy on Sunday evening after a decisive 28:23 victory over Slovakia, with the help of left back Anastasiia Parkhomenko, who scored seven times. In the bronze medal match earlier against Belgium, Italy managed a comeback after being led by three at the break, and finally celebrated third place in the tournament in Georgia.

both Slovakia and Ukraine reached the Women’s 19 EHF Championship 2025 final on Sunday after staying undefeated for the whole tournament
Ukraine took a commanding win in the semi-final on Friday against Belgium, as the squad led by Liliia Horilska capitalised on their nine-goal gap at the break to secure a 35:25 victory and a well-deserved ticket to the final
Nina Letková and Michaela Lukacínová made up the Slovakian offensive force in Friday’s semi-final against Italy, scoring 12 goals combined; Italy held the lead only once, when Alessia Zizzo scored the first goal of the game — and they mounted a comeback at the end of the first half (9:9) — but Natália Labudová netted to keep a one-goal advantage at the break for Slovakia, who finished their strong performance with a 23:20 victory
in the fight for the gold medal on Sunday, Ukraine opened the score through their key player Vanessa Lakatosh and then quickly built a five-goal gap by the end of the first quarter (7:2), as Anastasiia Parkhomenko led the attack with three goals
despite a series of technical errors and three consecutive missed shots on the Ukrainian side, Slovakia could not get close to their opponents in the first half and were still five goals behind at the break (14:9)
the situation remained unchanged for a while, but Slovakia put their foot on the gas and narrowed the gap to one with 11 minutes left on the clock (17:18) — helped by the amazing Lukacínová and Letková, who took their turns at scoring
Michaela Lukacínová netted her sixth goal of the match to bring new hope for the Slovakian side at 18:18, but then a seven-metre goal by Anastasiia Parkhomenko put an end to Ukraine’s seven-minute dry spell and they were once again ahead in the game
with the trophy in sight, Ukraine proved to have nerves of steel and held onto the lead, coming out on top after a thrilling end to the fight, finally clinching a 28:23 victory
nine Ukrainian players added their names to the scoresheet on Sunday, compared to six on the Slovakian side
apart from lifting the trophy with Ukraine, Anastasiia Parkhomenko has one more reason to celebrate, as she was named in the All-star Team of the competition, alongside her teammates Vanessa Lakatosh and Liubov Rosokha
just like in the semi-final on Friday, Belgium enjoyed a good start to the bronze medal match against Italy, building a slight advantage in the first 15 minutes and managing a comeback towards the break to enter the second half with a three-goal gap (14:11); however, Italy restarted the game with three consecutive goals and then distanced themselves to clinch the bronze medal six goals ahead (32:26)