Serbia-Greece 34-23: Another loss for the national handball team as they battle for 9th-16th place

The youth national team will be fighting for places 9-16 in the continuation of the U21 World Cup as they defeated Serbia 34:23 in the last game of the B phase and stayed in the fourth place of the 4th group.

At the closed “Melina Merkouri”, the internationals knew from the beginning of the game that they needed a win by a margin of 7 goals to perform the “miracle” and qualify for the “8” of the competition. The Serbs, on the other hand, wanted to secure a place in the quarter-finals and played with passion.

The national team got better into the field and found solutions from the flanks, with Papagiannis, Vassiliou and Tzorginis leading 4-6 in the 13th minute, 6-8 in the 17th minute and 10-11 in the 23rd minute . But the continuation belonged to the Serbs, who got away with a 5-0 run, 15:11 and closed the first part with Papagiannis cutting it to 15:12.

The second part was the worst for the national team in the competition, with several breaks, errors and lost fours. The Serbs put on a 6-1 run and took a 21-13 lead in the 39th minute. The internationals, without Achillea Tosca, who felt pain in his leg and remained on the bench, tried to react and reduced the lead to 21:18 with a 5-0 run in the 44th minute, but the counterattack fell flat in the middle. Gradually, Serbia managed to widen the gap, with Dodic, Kos (MVP of the game) and Stanisavliejic scoring easily, earning a 34-23 victory.

The national team will now face Sweden in Rentis on Wednesday and Bahrain on Thursday with the aim of securing 9th place in the competition.

Serbia (Teodorovic): Papovic 1, Simic, Kos 5, Stanisavljevic 5, B. Zabrillo 1, Antonijevic, Dodic 8, Smigic 4, V. Zabrillo 1, Sigian 3, Damjanovic 1, Rogan 2, Zecevic 3, Predovic 1, Krivokapic (12/32 saves – 38%), Zekic (3/6 saves – 50%).

Greece (Georgiadis): Babatzanidis (5/27 saves 19%), Koukoulas 1, Panagiotou 1, Papagiannis 4, Diakoulias, Papazoglou, Nikolinais (1/13 saves – 8%), Kotsionis 2, Toskas 2, Alexandridis, Anastasiou 3, Vassiliou – Tsafos 4, Sina 3, Geroulanos, Payatis 2, Tzorginis 1.

Recommendations: K. Hanes – D. Hanes (Germany). Two minutes: 1-5. Penalty: 5/5 – 2/3.