Austria’s handball players remain on course for success at the European Championships. At the start of the main round, the team around backcourt ace Mykola Bilyk achieved a 30:29 (17:17) win against Hungary and is therefore still unbeaten in the tournament. France defeated Croatia in a very close game.
Austria’s handball fairytale continues: Coach Ales Pajovic’s team is still unbeaten at the European Handball Championships and is now leading the main round group I with three points, in which it will face Germany on Saturday. Hungary has two points after its first defeat. From the start, it was a duel of equals in which neither team was able to gain a decisive advantage.
Bilyk makes the decision
Shortly before the end, Bilyk made the decision with his eighth goal. In addition to the backcourt player from German record champions THW Kiel, Lukas Hutecek from TBV Lemgo Lippe and long-time Bundesliga professional Robert Weber also proved to be accurate with six goals each.
Austria’s Weber: “No one needs to be motivated anymore”
“We are igniting a huge euphoria in Austria. We as a team are having a lot of fun simply playing handball together. We are enjoying every moment we are currently experiencing here,” said Bilyk after the last-minute win on Thursday in Cologne. Looking ahead to the Germany game, he said: “We can hardly wait. It’s going to be really cool.” For Austria it is the first main round victory at a European Handball Championship since 2014. They also beat Hungary back then.
France prevails against Croatia
Olympic champion France continues to head towards the semi-finals. The record world champion, who defeated the DHB selection in the preliminary round, narrowly prevailed in a dramatic game against Croatia with 34:32 (18:18) and leads the group with four points. The best thrower for the French was Dika Mem with six goals, while Zvonimir Srna scored the same number for Croatia.
