Spain beat South Korea 31-29 in a captivating Olympic women's handball bronze medal match on Saturday that needed a second overtime to decide a winner.

Nely Alberto and Begona Fernandez both hit five to top score for Spain, while Gwon Han Na led Koreans with seven.

In the semifinals, Korea suffered a 31-25 defeat to Norway while Spain was narrowly beaten 23-22 by Montenegro.

World champion Norway plays Montenegro later Saturday in the gold medal match.

Sydney 2000 is the only other time that South Korea has been out of the medals since the sport was introduced at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.