After a four year absence, younger and fresher Croatian handball team made it back on the EHF EURO medals podium
Two weeks ago when we were sending our handball players to Poland no one believed we had the experience or the quality to win a medal, and on January 31, 2016, they proved us all wrong. The young team lead by new head coach Željko Babić beat Norway 31:24 (15:11), winning the bronze medal and a direct ticket to the IHF World Championship which will take place in France in 2017.
This is the third bronze for Croatia (after 1994 and 2012), and fifth medal in total (2 silvers in 2008 and 2012) in EHF EURO history. Today’s bronze is the 13 medal won by our handball players making it our most successful team sport.
It was a nerve wrecking game with both teams chasing the result and leading by one or two goals, and even though Croatia was leading by 4 at half-time, the opening of the second half did not look good at all as Croatian players struggled to find their way to the Norwegian goal. Brilliant goalkeeper Ivan Stevanović was the hero of the day, keeping us in the game saving several crucial goal attempts, leaving Norway without a goal for almost 6 minutes.
Domagoj Duvnjak was awarded Best Player of the Match while Manuel Štrlek earned a spot in the Best team in the tournament.
#IZNADSVIHHRVATSKA
Posted by HRS on Sunday, 31 January 2016
Congratulations to the entire team and coaches, there’s a bright future ahead of this young team.
Photos and video by Croatian Handball Federation
