Olympic champion France was the third team after world champion Denmark and defending champion Sweden to qualify early for the semi-finals of the European Handball Championships and provided the hoped-for support for the German team. The record world champion beat Austria 33:28 (15:16) in Cologne on Monday and has secured one of the first two places in Group I with 8:0 points before the final main round matchday. Austria has 4:4 points and can no longer reach the semi-finals on its own. Thanks to the victory of the French, the DHB team could now move into the semi-finals on Wednesday with two wins against Hungary and against Croatia, which had already been eliminated, without being dependent on a different result.
As in the 22:22 draw against Germany, the tournament outsider delivered a strong performance and stood up to the favorites for a long time. Only when their strength dwindled a little in the final phase were the French able to pull away. The best thrower at last year’s World Cup runner-up was Dika Mem with seven goals. For Austria, the two Bundesliga professionals Mykola Bilyk (THW Kiel) and Lukas Hutecek (TBV Lemgo Lippe) were the most accurate with six goals each.
Croatia had previously lost their minimal chance of reaching the semi-finals by losing 30:35 (18:16) against Iceland. The best thrower for the winner, who had already said goodbye to the medal fight, was long-time Bundesliga professional Bjarki Már Elísson with eight goals.
“Nothing worked. This shouldn’t happen,” said Duvnjak. The Croatians, who made people sit up and take notice at the start of the tournament with a resounding win against Spain, are now left empty-handed. “We may have flown a bit,” said Duvnjak, “now we are very disappointed. Especially about the second half. We will give everything against Germany.” Motivating yourself for Wednesday’s game will be “very” difficult: “I had hoped that we would be in the semi-finals, but we are far, far away.”