The Croatia women’s handball team is in the Mediterranean Games final in Oran! They defeated Serbia, a favorite in the tournament, by 11 goals.
Croatia opened the game well and Tena Petika scored for 2:0, which gave Croatia security. For the majority of the first half, Serbia went for goals, but in the 15th minute, Croatia took the lead again. Katarina Pavlović lifted Croatia to +3 in the 20th minute and in the 28th Croatia went to +5.
The second half was even better – Croatia reached 23:15 in just 10 minutes and Serbia had lost hope. Croatia’s defense remained solid and the offense kept the advantage for a quiet finish. Croatia was even better at the end in a clash when the defense excelled and we scored easy goals.
Katarina Pavlović and Tina Barišić scored eight goals each. Lana Jarak was excellent in the second half scoring 7 out of 7 goals. Antonija Tucaković was also great in goal, making 13 saves. Aleksandra Vukajlović scored eight goals for Serbia.
“Today, we primarily played as a team and had an excellent defense, which can be seen from the 20 goals conceded. We played smart, we prepared well for this match. We are very proud of this result, the medal won, and we are going to show in the final that the game against Spain was just one bad day and try to win the gold,” said Sara Šenvald.
This is the third women’s handball final at the Mediterranean Games. Croatia has won one so far in 1993 against France and lost one in 1997 also against France. Croatia thus returns to the final after 25 years.
In the second semi-final, Spain defeated Portugal 28:26 with great difficulty. Carmen Campos scored 10 goals, and Minciiuna six for Portugal.
The final will be played on Wednesday at 15:00. Before that, Serbia – Portugal will play for bronze.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated sports section.
