In the first match of the round of 16 of the European Cup, the handball players of Velenje Gorenje won 31:26 (11:13) away from the Cypriot team Sabbianco Anorthosis Famagusta.
The team from Velenj, who eliminated Partizan in the previous round, gained a nice advantage before the second leg on the road in Cyprus and have a good chance of advancing to the top eight teams in the third strongest club competition on European soil.
In the first half, the match was very even and the handball players from Famagusta offered a lot of resistance to the people of Velenj. After a good 20 minutes of the match, they are one of the two Slovenians in the Cypriot jersey after a goal Jake Špiljak the home team took the lead with a three-goal advantage (10:7). They kept the advantage until the end of the first half, which they won with 13:11.
The handball players from Gorenje played better later on. By merit Urbana Pippa they tied the score in the 38th minute (16:16), Peter Šiško and a few minutes later he scored for Velenjčani to take the lead (19:18), who took the lead again for the first time after the fifth minute of the match.
The Slovenians did not let go of the leadership. After two goals Tilna Sokoliča ten minutes before the end of the game, the guests led by six (26:20), which was also the biggest advantage in the match, which they only managed to safely bring to the end and celebrate with five goals from the start.
Sokolič was the best scorer of the match with 11 goals. The best scorer of the Cypriot team was Slovenian handball player Špiljak with seven goals. The second Slovenian in the Cypriot jersey Domain Sikošek Pelko added four goals.
The first match of the round of 16 of the European Cup was also played by Riko Ribnice’s handball players, who lost 29:38 against Runar from Sandefjord in Norway. From the very beginning of the match, the Norwegians showed that they are dangerous on their home ground. After ten minutes of the match, they are one goal behind By Robin Wulvik took the lead with a four-goal advantage (7:3). Two minutes after that, they already led by six (10:4).
But the people of Ribnica did not give up and came close to only two goals behind (15:13). By the time of the main break, the Runar handball players played better again and just before the end of the first half, they restored the advantage of six goals (21:15). The backlog of Ribnica did not decrease much in the future either. The Norwegians opened the second half offensively with two goals and took the lead with 23:15. Fifteen minutes before the end, Ribničani scored a goal Gašper Hrastnik reduced the gap to five (28:23).
The Slovenian team ran out of strength towards the end of the match, and the Norwegians reached their highest advantage in the match and in the end celebrated with nine goals. He was the most successful at Runar with 12 goals Mads Falck Rekstad, seven were added by Wulvik. He scored the most goals (7) for Ribnica Uroš Milicevič.
European Cup, round of 16
First matches:SANDEFJORD RUNNER – RIKO RIBNICA 38:29 (21:15) 560; Rekstad 12, Wulvik 7, Rambo 6; Miličevič 7, Laljek and Hrastnik 4 each.
ANORTHOSIS FAMAGUSTA – BURNING COMMAND 26:31 (13:11) Špiljak 7, Zaja 6; Sokolič 11, Šiško 6, Grmšek 5.
Source: Rtvslo
