Olympic handball: Norway retains gold

London - Norway defended its Olympic gold medal in women’s handball with a 26-23 defeat of Montenegro, which took home its first-ever medal in the Games.

Norway, also the World and European champion, went ahead half way through the first period and never receded.

Montenegro is competing in its third Olympics since independence in 2006.

It failed to a medal in Winter Games in Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 as well as the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Earlier, Spain beat South Korea 31-29 in a captivating bronze medal match that needed a second overtime to decide the winner.