Estonia's men's handball team started their 2024 European championships qualification on the wrong foot, or hand really, with a 31:23 loss away to the Czech Republic on Wednesday.
History-making performances and brilliant young stars EHF / Courtney Gahan04 May 2021, 13:00 Share URL via E-Mail Copy URL to clipboard
The EHF EURO 2022 qualifiers had it all — last-minute wins, heartbreaking losses, history-making successes and brilliant individual performances. Following the conclusion of the qualifiers on Sunday, we take a look at the main talking points from a thrilling phase before we look forward to Thursday's final tournament draw.
Perfect Germany and Sweden; near-perfect Serbia
EHF EURO 2016 winners Germany and EHF EURO 2018 finalists Sweden were the only two teams to reach the end of the qualifiers with a perfect record of six wins.
Serbia came close to perfect, with five wins (including two assessed results against Belgium) and one draw.
The Estonian men's national handball team lost 35:20 to Germany in their final 2022 European championships qualification group stage match and did not advance to the final tournament, finishing last in their group.
Although the Estonian side did not hold a single lead in Sunday's away match, the teams were neck and neck to start the match. The 2016 Olympic bronze took off from there, however, and opened a 17:10 lead going into halftime.
The German team showed its class in the second half and opened a 10-point lead by the 40th minute of the match. At one point, Germany extended their lead to 16, but Estonia was able to get one back for a 35:20 loss. Estonia also lost to Austria on Thursday.
Austria keep hopes alive with victory over Estonia EHF / Björn Pazen29 April 2021, 20:30 Share URL via E-Mail Copy URL to clipboard
After beating Bosnia & Herzegovina in March, Estonia had their fate in their hands on home ground against Austria - but the Baltic side lost the crucial duel on Thursday 27:31 and remain on two points.
Austria, now with four points, made sure they are still in the running for a EHF EURO ticket. One key to the away success was Lukas Hutecek's comeback after injury.
GROUP 2
Estonia vs Austria 27:31 (13:18)
after winning the first leg 31:28, Austria shocked the Estonians on their home ground with a 6:1 start – and did not let the lead slip from their hands
0">The Estonian men's national handball team led by head coach Thomas Sivertsson. Source: Siim Lõvi/ERR
On Sunday, the Estonian men's national handball team lost 19:21 to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the second phase of the qualification tournament for the 2022 European Men's Handball Championship, winning the match-up by one goal.
Sunday's match started slow with the score being 1:1 after nine minutes of action. While the slow pace continued to a score of 3:3, the home team Bosnians scored four unanswered goals and took the first half 12:9.
Estonia crawled back into the game at the start of the second half and tied the game up at the 36th minute. The hosts restored a four goal lead midway through the second half but Estonia made a run in the end with Markus Viitkar scoring just four seconds (see below) before the end of the match to make it 19:21 and giving Estonia a one-point win over the two matches.