10 more teams advance to Round 2

A total of 15 teams across Europe have advanced from Qualification Round 1 of the Men’s EHF Cup. After five teams qualified in double-headers last week, 10 more teams followed this weekend.

They will be joined by 17 teams which enter the competition in October in the second of three qualifying rounds ahead of the group phase.

BSK Handball Elite had the edge in the Nordic encounter with Afturelding. After winning 26:25 in Iceland last weekend, the Norwegian side found themselves 16:12 down at half-time in their Oppsal Arena in Oslo.

In the second half, however, the home team turned the tide and won the match 29:27.

“We started off quite bad but turned it around in the second half which was enough to get us the win,” BSH back Joakim Patriksson said. “It was great fun to get the victory on our home court.”

Centre back Nicolay Hauge added that BSK “had a messy first half. Luckily we picked it back up in the second half. We have a young squad that needs some time to find routines.”

BSK right back Emil Sundal, who scored eight times last week, was again the best scorer with nine goals this time.

BSK will meet HC Dobrogea Sud Constanta of Romania in the next round.

Another thriller took place in Zagreb.

After a 36:36 draw in the first leg, RK Dubrova were leading Klaipeda Dragunas 20:14 at half-time. But the guests from Lithuania clawed their way back into the match and lost by just one goal (36:35) to the Croatian hosts, who next play Csurgoi KK of Hungary.

In an all-Austrian clash, Bregenz Handball failed to overcome a two-goal deficit from the first leg (30:28) against Westwien.

In another close match, the team from the western province of Vorarlberg managed only a 27:27 draw on home court against team from Austria’s capital. Westwien next plays Wacker Thun of Switzerland.

While Afturelding crashed out of the EHF Cup, Iceland kept one team in the competition.

Having won 30:27 away against HC Dukla Praha in the first leg, FH Hafnafjardar finished the job at home. They defeated their Czech opponents once again, this time with a twice-as-big margin, 31:25.

Hafnafjardar, led by right back Einar Eidsson’s 10 goals, will be up against St Petersburg HC in Round 2.

Pölva Serviti built on last week’s 21:21 away draw with HRK Gorica of Croatia as the Estonian hosts put in an outstanding second half to turn a 10:10 at half-time into a 25:22 win after 60 minutes.

Pölva will meet another team from Croatia in the next round, RK Nexe.

This weekend also contained three double-headers.

Maccabi Srugo Rishon Lezion had no troubles at all in their two home games against HC Olimpus-85-USEFS. After winning 39:20 win on Friday evening, the Israeli hosts took another big win the following day, 45:28.

Also, Valur FC of Iceland could afford to lose 31:10 on home court against SSV Bozen Loacker Volksbank following their seven-goal win (34:27) from the first match against the Italian guests on Saturday.

Next opponent will be former EHF Cup Finals participants Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc Handball.

Finally, Vojvodina eased past A.C. Doukas of Greece. The Serbian hosts all but secured their qualification with a 33:13 win in the first match on Friday, and added a 26:24 win the following day.