Four-time champions Russia fall to quarter-final defeat to Poland at Women's World Handball Championships

Poland ended Russia's unbeaten record to reach the semi-finals ©Getty Images

Four-time champions Russia fell to a surprise quarter-final defeat to Poland at the Women's World Handball Championships today, while the host nation Denmark suffered extra-time heartache.

Heading into the last-eight tie the Russian team had secured six straight victories at the tournament, which saw them start the match as red-hot favourites against a Polish team who had narrowly beaten Hungary in the last 16.

However, it was the Poles who took the initiative in the opening period of the match, with Monika Kobylinska scoring with each of her four shots to help her team going into the break with a 10-8 advantage at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning.

With elimination looking a possibility the Russians, who had secured three straight titles from 2005 to 2009, were able to raise their game and took a 17-15 lead into the last 15 minutes of the tie.

Poland though were able to book only their second appearance in the semi-finals, their first coming in the 2013 edition, as they battled back to take the lead in the final 30 seconds to win 21-20.

The Polish team are set to face The Netherlands, who booked a place in the last four of the tournament for the first time in their history with a victory over France at Sydbank Arena.

Estavana Polman produced an excellent display for the Dutch team, as the 23-year-old found the net on 10 occasions during the match to help end a run of seven consecutive defeats to the French team, with the Dutch emerging as 28-25 winners.

Olympic champions Norway beat Montenegro to reach the last four ©Getty Images

"I am very happy that we made the semi-finals of a World Championship for the first time in our history," said Dutch coach Henk Groener.

"We played very well in our group as you have seen in our results, but against Sweden we drew and we also saw today that we really had to fight until the end.”

Olympic champions Norway also booked their place in the semi-finals after ending Montenegro’s unbeaten record by winning a tightly contested match 26-25, despite Majda Mehmedović and Jovanka Radičević both finding the net on six occasions for the Montenegrins.

Norway are set to meet Romania, after they brought home hopes to an end by earning a dramatic extra time victory in the last quarter-final match.

With the scores locked at 27-all after 60 minutes of action, two further five minute periods were required and the Romanian team, who had already knocked out defending champions Brazil, were eventually able to seal a 31-30 win.