29:27 against Estonia marks historic win for Georgia

Greece are on en route to the qualification play-offs after recording their second win over Cyprus in the first qualification stage for the EHF EURO 2018 in Croatia.

Nothing is decided yet in Group B after Georgia beat Estonia - their first win in an EHF EURO qualifier since 2007.

Group A: Cyprus - Greece 17:23 (9:12)

After their narrow 27:25 win against Cyprus on home court earlier this week, Greece on Sunday did not have that many difficulties to overcome the Cypriot team and to keep their unbeaten record.

With very few exceptions Greece dominated the match, while Cyprus were only able to play in the same league as their opponents until the 45th minute.

After an initial 9:5 lead and a score line of 12:9 at the break, Greece almost let the game slip from their hands: At 13:13 and at 14:14 the hosts had the chances to turn the match in their favour.

But Greece found their confidence again, and by scoring five unanswered goals they brought the score to 21:15 with three minutes left to play and decided the match.

Best scorer of the match was Julios Argyrou for Cyprus with seven goals. Best scorer for Greece was Vyron Papadopoulos with four goals.

Georgia - Estonia 29:27 (15:14)

Georgia's seven-year wait came to an end on Sunday night in Tblissi: After they had lost the first leg against Estonia earlier this week, Georgia turned the tide on home court.

After they had beaten Bulgaria 22:21 seven years ago, this was the first victory for Georgia in an EHF EURO qualification match.

Seven goals of Mikk Pinnonen were – while top star Mait Patrail was absent due to injury – not enough for Estonia to win the match. For Estonia it was once again Vladimir Rusia who scored most often as eight of his shots found the back of the net.

After a hotly contested start, Georgia forged ahead to 12:9, but Estonia stayed in the game. However, it was only at 17:16 that they regained the lead.

Georgia answered by scoring four straight goals to bring the score line to 20:17, but it was not enough to already outclass Estonia. At 24:23 with ten minutes left to play everything was open once again, before another three answered Georgian goals decided the tight encounter.