Borussia Dortmund's women's handball team have returned from Denmark. The German league runners-up have successfully completed their one-week training camp in the south of Jutland. Head coach André Fuhr's team rounded off the camp with two friendly matches. On Wednesday they lost 30-24 (having lead 15-13 at HT) to European League finalists Viborg HK, and on Thursday they won 29-25 (after trailing 18-14 at the break) against first-division team Sonderjyske.

André Fuhr remained extremely positive despite the defeat against Viborg. "We worked well the whole week, we had good facilities, took another step forward and didn't come away with any new injuries," said the head coach. 

Fuhr was nevertheless unhappy about the defeat against Viborg HK. "We were leading until the break, but then lost our grip on the game," explained the coach. "We didn't take our chances in the second half and our wingers didn't get into the game. But it was still a game we shouldn't have lost." The game went remarkably well through the circle runner — in this case Lisa Antl, as Sweden's Emma Olsson continues to be sidelined due to a ligament injury. Fuhr was extremely pleased with the circle runner: "That worked remarkably well, Lisa scored seven goals from the circle." Alina Grijseels (5) and Harma van Kreij (3) were the other main scorers.

Less than 24 hours later, the next opponents were first-division side Sonderjyske. In the 29-25 win, Lisa Antl produced another good performance on the circle with six goals. Captain Alina Grijseels and Yara ten Holte were also in good form. The goalkeeper played both games in full in Denmark after her injury break and looked in good shape.

"With the exception of Yara ten Holte, we made a lot of changes and tried out an attacking defensive variant with Haruno Sasaki up front — that went pretty well," commented Fuhr, who still doesn't have a left-hander available for the back line. Both Sarah Garovic from Serbia and Anastasiya Sivukha from Belarus are still out. "That's our biggest shortcoming at the moment," emphasised the coach. 

On Thursday evening the BVB squad returned to Dortmund by bus, arriving at 2 am. On Friday they completed a short running session before setting off again on Saturday morning to East Westphalia for a two-day training camp in Blomberg. This will include friendlies against two Bundesliga rivals, Zwickau and Blomberg-Lippe. The Borussia squad then head to Bensheim-Auerbach (in Hesse) on Tuesday evening, where they again face Bundesliga opposition. Their fifth match in seven days begins at 19:30 CET.