The hosts, in the Dutch city of Dordrecht, defeated Catalonia 22-17 in pool A.

The reigning champions led throughout and were 5-2 ahead after the first quarter.

However their opponents refused to be beaten easily and reduced the deficit by one to trail 10-8 at half time.

The Dutch team's superiority began to show after the break as they controlled the third quarter, extending their lead to 19-11.

Refusing to be beaten, the Catalonian team finishing the stronger of the two sides by scoring the last five points of the game to cut the Dutch's lead and overall score to 22-17.

In the opening match of the competition, there was a more than convincing win for the Czech Republic over Poland in Pool B.

The Czechs dominated from the start, finding themselves 5-2 up after the first quarter before increasing their advantage to 9-3 at half time.

Poland were unable to offer very little in the way of competition and they went on to concede another seven points in the second half to give the Czech Republic a resounding 16-6 win.

In the second contest of the day Belgium, runners-up from two years ago, defeated England 22-14 in Pool B.

The Belgians were in control throughout, leading from the first minute when Patty Peeters gave them the lead.

England managed to keep their opponents in sight, trailing only by four at half time, however a dominant second half performance from the Belgians put them out of sight.

Russia defeated Turkey in the evening clash.

Six points from Dmitry Kazachkov as well as four from both Artem Denisov and Nataliia Igrashkina guided the Russians to a comfortable 19-12 win.