Luxembourg strike back against Georgia

Italy and Luxembourg are Sunday’s winners in Round 4 of the first stage of the qualification for the EHF EURO 2018 in Croatia.

While Luxembourg stroke back against Georgia, the Italians ended Kosovo's hopes to gain at least a single point.

Group B: Luxembourg vs. Georgia 29:20 (12:11)

A clear improvement after the break when they benefitted from their opponents decrease in strength paved the way for the first Luxembourg win in the EHF EURO 2018 Qualification.

While the score stood at 12:11 at half-time, the home team was in particular unstoppable in the second 30 minutes.

Two minutes before the end the gap had reached double-figures at 29:19 after Luxembourg had scored an impressive 11:3 series.

Best scorers were Kohl and Hoffmann with six goals each for the winning team and Lesko Tsitelishvili with eight strikes for Georgia.

Despite having four points on their account, Georgia are out of the race for the next qualification stage as they lost both direct encounters by aggregate goals.

Luxembourg still can hope to proceed, having the two duels with Estonia (both teams are on 2 points) ahead.

Group C: Italy vs. Kosovo 35:26 (18:12)

Kosovo finished their first official EHF competition after having received full EHF membership in September 2014 with their fourth consecutive defeat.

Italy, on the other hand, kept their clear record and are ready for the final matches against Romania in June.

Both sides are level with four points each, hence those direct duels will decide which team will make it to the next stage of the qualification.

As in the 29:22 win in the first leg, Italy were never in danger to lose.

Following a six-goal advantage at the break, the gap was double-figured for the first time at 25:15.

Match winner for the Italians was Dean Torkovic, who scored eleven times from 12 attempts. Kabashi, Dedaj and Hoxha scored five tiomes each for Kosovo.