Sweden's next opponent in the European Championship, Romania, briefly threatened France, the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medalist, in Paris. But in the end, the heavy favorite won 30–25.
France led the match throughout. But Romania went from 16–18 to 19–19 and even had 20–20 with about ten minutes left of the match in Debrecen, Hungary. Then the French star team could pull away.
The home team Hungary later defeated Montenegro 26–20. This means that France and Hungary have a full score after the first round in the intermediate round, where they also brought two points each as group winners.
Sweden, which earlier in the day defeated Poland, and Montenegro stand on two points, and Romania and Poland on zero.
Sweden will meet Romania on Friday. Then, on Sunday, France awaits, and on Tuesday, Montenegro.
The two best teams in the group advance to the semifinals.
