Seven countries represented in the quarter-finals
Seven countries will be represented in the pot for the draw for the quarter-finals of the Men´s Challenge Cup. Norway is the only country with two teams among the last eight after the second leg of the round of 16 last weekend.
The draw will take place on Tuesday, 26 February at 15:00 hrs local time in Vienna. All teams will be drawn from one pot and there will be no country protection from teams in the same country, what means that Drammen HK can face their domestic Norwegian rivals IL Runar.
Directly after the quarter-finals pairings will be confirmed the semi-finals draw will follow.
Men´s Challenge Cup, Last 16, second leg summary:
HC Izviđač vs. Drammen HK 22:34 (agg. 42:75)
Drammen followed their 41:20 home win up with another big win in Bosnia and Herzegovina to remove any doubt which team was the better one, and with a total win at 33 goals, the Norwegians qualified for the quarter-finals with the largest margin of this round.
A C Doukas vs. B.B Ankara Spor 28:25 (agg. 51:54)
Changing a two goal deficit at half time into a three goal win did not help Doukas who only managed to catch up with half of Ankara´s lead from the first match, so the Greek side had to see the Turkish opponents proceed to the last eight.
RK Spartak Vojput vs. Handball Esch 27:20 (agg. 53:54)
The support from 1600 spectators was not enough for the Serbian team to go on in the tournament. At the end they were one goal short of catching up with the Luxembourg outfit´s 34:25 win from the first leg.
Klaipeda “Dragunas” vs. Radnički Kragujevac 30:28 (Sat.) 23:27 (Sun.) (agg. 53:55)
Playing both matches at home did not help the Lithuanian squad who won the first leg by two, but lost by four less than 24 hours later and had to see the Serbian rivals advance to the top eight.
KS Azoty-Pulawy vs. Initia Hasselt 29:29 (agg. 50:50, Hasselt to quarter-finals on away goals)
After 21:21 in the first leg in Belgium, the two teams drew again in Poland, but as the final score was 29:29 this time, Initia Hasselt continue in the tournament due to having scored more away goals.
A C PAOK vs. IL Runar 31:32 (agg. 57:68)
After their ten goal home win, the Norwegian team were practically through already, and after having won the first half in Thessaloniki, Greece by four - 19:15 – they could easily afford to lose the last 30 minutes of the tie by three and still proceed with a comfortable margin.
SPE Strovolos vs. C.S.U. Suceava 25:32 (agg. 59:67)
1500 spectators were hoping for a Cypriot success after Strovolos having lost the first leg in Romania by only one goal. However, Suceava withstood the pressure and did far better away than at home, winning by seven in Nicosia and proceeding to the next round with a total margin of eight.
Pallamano Pressano vs. SKA Minsk 20:28 (agg. 45:67)
With the Belarusian team being 14 goals ahead after the first leg, there was not much at stake in the return match in Italy, where 11 goals from Barys Pukhouski contributed to another clear win for Minsk.
Further information
Follow the draw´s liveticker on eurohandball.com on Tuesday from 15.00 hrs local time and also on EHF Media and Communications official twitter page @ehfmedia
TEXT: Peter Bruun / br
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