EHF EURO 2020, Day 5: victorious end of preliminary round for Belarus and Croatia

Mikita Vailupau

Another busy day at the EHF EURO 2020 is behind SEHA League countries. Belarus and Croatia played their last matches in preliminary phase. Both of them secured a place for themselves in the next round. The competition is over for Serbia who faced 3rd defeat in Group A. Hungary and Russia also entered the court today in Group E. 

(Group A) Montenegro - Belarus 27:36 (11:17)
Belarus have finished preliminary phase in the best possible way. In their last Group A clash, they outplayed team Montenegro 36:27 and won new points. After a great first half which they finished with 6 goals advantage, the second one was a routine job for Belarus. Name that once again stood out in the winning team was brilliant Mikita Vailupau who netted 7 times for Belarus. Scorer list on the winning side also featured Maxim Baranau and Barys Pukhouski who each netted 3 times and Andrei Yurynok who netted 2 times. On the other side, Stevan Vujovic scored 3 goals for Montenegro while Milos Bozovic added 2 more. 

(Group A) Serbia - Croatia 21:24 (10:8)
Even with eventual win in this match, nothing would change for Serbia who did not manage to secure their place in the next round. But despite that, they played really good and motivated to show their best on the court. This was clear after the first half when they had 2 goals advantage on half-time. They were in the lead all the way until around 40th minute when Croatia made comeback and eventually took on the lead. Zlatko Horvat brought 3 goals advantage in the 47th minute when he scored fast break for 14:17. In the end, Croatia delivered their third EHF EURO 2020 win. Zlatko Horvat and David Mandic gave their contribution with 3 goals each, while Marin Sipic added 1 one for Croatia. On the other side, Vladimir Cupara had the key role in some moments with incredible action between the posts. In the end, he had 8 saves. Zivan Pesic, Milan Djukic and Stevan Sretenovic each netted once for Serbia. 

(Group E) Iceland - Russia 34:23 (18:11)
In their second EHF EURO 2020 match, Russia did not manage to secure their first points. Team Iceland was better with 34:23 result in their second clash in Group E. Iceland started the match confidently and had 12:4 advantage in the 17th minute. It was clear then who will take the points in this one. Despite the loss, SEHA stars really stood out on the court. Gleb Kalarash was the best scorer with 6 goals. Igor Soroka and Daniil Shishkarev were also precise. Each of them scored 4 goals for Russia. Alexander Shukrinskiy and Pavel Atman were also on the list of scorers with 2 goals each. Timur Dibirov netted once for Russia. 

(Group E) Denmark - Hungary 24:24 (11:13)
In their second match in Group E, Hungary have split points with Denmark. After tough 60 minutes, the end result was 24:24. A few times Hungary had 3 goals advantage and it seemed like they have control over the match. But, even with such result deficit, Denmark did not give up. They made a comeback and even were one goal up in the last minutes of the clash. But, Hungary managed to tie in 59th minute. Rasmus Lauge Schmidt netted 3 times on Danish side.

Photo credit: Kolektiff images