EHF EURO 2020, Day 1: opening victories for Belarus and Croatia

Barys Pukhouski

Three SEHA countries started their EHF EURO 2020 journey on day one. Opening clash in Group A gave us a real derby between two SEHA countries, Belarus and Serbia in which Belarus came out victorious. In the second clash of that same group, Croatia defeated Montenegro. 

(Group A) Belarus - Serbia 35:30 (16:15)
First SEHA League countries that entered the court at EHF EURO 2020 were Belarus and Serbia. It was a opening match in Group A where Belarus secured victory and took first points. In the first few minutes of the match, both teams showcased that they are motivated to show everything they know in order to start the competition with a win. But, after 9 minutes on the court, Belarus took over the lead. And just when it seemed that they will end the first half with a significant advantage, Serbia woke up and managed to go on a half-time break being only one goal down. The crucial moment was in the 45th minute when Belarus secured five goals advantage after which Serbia did not find a way to come back into the match. Barys Pukhouski stood out in the winning team with 3 goals as well as Andrei Yurynok who also netted 3 times for Belarus. Maxim Baranau and Mikita Vailupau added 2 goals each for the victory. On the other side, Stevan Sretenovic scored 5 goals for Serbia while Milan Djukic added one. 

(Group A) Croatia - Montenegro 27:21 (12:13)
In the second match of Group A, we saw Croatia secure opening win against Montenegro. After a really tough first half in which both teams were in the lead at different times, Croatia demonstrated their quality in the second one and won the first points. Zlatko Horvat had 4 out of 4 score for Croatia, while David Mandic scored 2 goals, Marin Sipic added 3 and Valentino Ravnic netted once. Stevan Vujovic, on the other side, netted 2 times for Montenegro. 

Photocredit: Kolektiff images