Vojvodina and Motor reach final

Hosts RK Vojvodina Novi Sad and favourites HC Motor Zaporozhye reached the Qualification Tournament 3 final of the VELUX EHF Champions League in contrasting fashion and will battle it out for a berth in the competition’s Group Phase on Sunday.

Motor romped to an overwhelming win against Bosnia-Herzegovina’s RK Borac Banja Luka while Vojvodina overcame a first-half deficit to edge Austria’s Alpla HC Hard in front of a vociferous home crowd.

Qualification tournament 3, semi-finals:

RK Borac m:tel Banja Luka (BIH) vs HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) 18:40 (8:20)

Ukrainian champions proved in no uncertain terms that they are the favourites to reach the Group Phase from their qualifying pool, after romping to an emphatic win over Bosnian title holders Borac Banja Luka.

Motor hit top gear straight away and dominated proceedings from the start, as 13 of their players got on the scoresheet in a one-sided encounter in Novi Sad.

Russian right wing Oleg Skopintsev led the charge for Motor with six goals, followed by Iurii Kubatko and Sergiy Onufryienko who netted five each. Vladislav Ostroushko, Alexander Semikov and Ievgen Zhuk added four goals apiece for the Ukrainians.

Nemanja Bezbradica grabbed six goals for Borac but his solo effort was cancelled out by an impressive and fast-flowing Motor performance in the Slana Bara Arena.

RK Vojvodina Novi Sad (SRB) vs Alpla HC Hard (AUT) 27:26 (10:12)

A see-saw battle between Serbian champions and Austrian title holders went the home team’s way after they fought back to delight their passionate fans and book a clash with HC Motor Zaporozhye for a place among Europe’s elite.

Vojvodina, the shock winners of last season’s title in Serbia, will have a mountain to climb against the Ukrainians and will need to reproduce the kind of resilience that saw them thwart a spirited challenge from the Austrian outfit.

Having led at the interval, Alpla came agonisingly close to stunning the qualifying tournament hosts and will now have to be content with a third-place playoff against Borac.

Uroš Elezović spearheaded the home team’s effort with eight goals, Miljan Pušica scored six and Aleksandar Pilipović added four for Vojvodina, while Michael Jochum netted seven and Marko Krsmančić six for a brave Alpla HC Hard outfit.