Review of the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners´ Cup

Four teams from four countries – Austria, Germany, France and Russia made it to the list of the semi-finals participants as all four second leg matches were played in the Women´s Cup Winners´ Cup Quarter-finals last weekend.

The German champions Thüringer HC will meet with the record Austrian title holders Hypo NÖ and the French Issy Paris Handball will take on the Russia´s outfit Rostov Don.

The semi-finals are scheduled for 6/7 April (first leg) and 13/14 April (second leg).

Issy Paris Hand (FRA) vs Váci NKSE (HUN) 27:23 (14:12)
First leg: 23:24

The most thrilling encounter was played in Paris on Friday as Issy had to rally from one goal deficit. The Hungarian team led by only the 20-year-old Kinga Klivinyi with 11 goals stayed in the game for the top four position until the very end, but the French side made the final push at the end of the match.

HC Leipzig (GER) vs Rostov Don (RUS) 24:22 (12:10)
First leg: 18:22

Rostov successfully defended their four goal lead from the first leg despite the home team were pushed forward by 4300 spectators in the Arena Leipzig. The 16 goal heroine of the first match Regina Shymkute had added five more goals before she was sent off after her third two minutes suspension. Rostov remained the sole representative of Russian handball in the women´s European club competition´s semi-finals.

Thüringer HC (GER) vs Balonmano Bera Bera (ESP) 38:26 (18:16)
First leg: 33:15

Following a huge 18-goal victory in Spain the second leg match in Germany could turn into a handball exhibition. The German champions showed some mercy with the Spanish side only in the first half, after the break the team of Herbert Müller escaped by double digits again and won by 30 goals on aggregate.

Müller will have to make one more trip to Vienna this season as the coach of the Austrian national team is going to visit the Austrian capital with his club at the beginning of April.

Hypo NÖ (AUT) vs Dinamo Volgograd (RUS) 25:31 (13:14)
First leg: 31:22

The Russian champions managed to win the second leg at Maria Enzersdorf, but they still left three goals behind the record four-time winners of the EHF Champions League. Anna Kochetova led the visitors with 10 goals while Gorica Acimovic and Alexandra Do Nascimento both chipped in eight goals for Hypo.

Thúringer HC will become already the third Hypo´s opponents from German bundesliga this season as they won both matches against Buxtehude in the Group Matches of the Women´s EHF Champions League and were also victorious on both occassions against Bayer Leverkusen in the previous round of the Cup Winners´ Cup.
 

Photo: Mario Gentzel