THW do it again!

Schlecker-Cup in Ehingen: Sixth title for THW Kiel and the same procedure as every year: Again the two German Champions League teams THW Kiel and HSV Hamburg met in the final at the “Schlecker-Cup” in Ehingen (near Stuttgart) – and again Kiel was the winner. The Serdarusic team won the tournament for the sixth time after 1994, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2006.
Kiel triumphed in the final 38:35 (18:17) against Hamburg. Gummersbach is hit by some severe injuries  and finished the “Schlecker-Cup” sixth and in last place. Veszprem (3.), Montpellier (4.) and Kopenhagen (5.) ranked between the German teams.

THW was still in lead in a high-class-final. In the 21st minute it was 13:9, and everything looked like easy work for Stefan Lovgren and his teammates. But as HSV-keeper Johannes Bitter became stronger, Hamburg shortened the difference to 18:17  after 30 minutes. In the second halftime Hamburg tried everything, but the Kiel defense with strong Goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer was hard to play. In the end Kiel was not only the best team in the final, but in the whole tournament, best final-scorer for THW was Börge Lund with eight goals.

In the placement match 3 /4 goalkeeper Dejan Peric, made an extraordinary performance with  55 percent of saved throws, was the match winner for MKB Veszprem, that won 36:24 against Montpellier. Best scorer for his team was Gyula Gal with eight goals in eight attempts. Best scorer for Montpellier was Juricek with six goals. Gummersbach lost in the placement match 5/6 against Kopenhagen.

THW played also an excellent  first day  with two clear victories in the first round. At first the reigning German and CL-champion overran the Hungarian topclub MKB Veszprem 37:29 and after that FC Kopenhagen had in second halftime no chance against the THW-express – even as CL-topscorer Nikola Karabatic was not able to play after an injury in the Veszprem-match.
In the first match the new players Filip Jicha and Börge Lund were the best ones in the team, against Kopenhagen keeper Thierry Omeyer made some great saves and Kim Andersson hit the net nine times. But after Karabatic was injured also Jicha had to stop after a leg-injury.

In the second group HSV Hamburg stood on top: “Our motor is running fine”, said coach Martin Schwalb after winning against Montpellier (38:31) and Gummersbach (30:29). But in the second match against the German opponent HSV had to struggle very hard, as Gummersbach played well. Specially the former HSV-player Roman Pungartnik, who scored ten times – bad luck for him: In the “crunch time”, the last two minutes he had to sit on the bench after a two-minute-suspension. So it was Korean Kjung Shin-Yoon, who brought the decision for Hamburg against his former  club two seconds before the final whistle (best scorer was Bertrand Gille wit eight goals after his injury).

In the first HSV match is was clear very short that Montpellier did not have a chance: Hans Lindbergh was topscorer for his club with ten goals, but the best player was keeper Per Sandström with 22 saves. For Gummersbach the match against Hamburg is was the second defeat after the 31:38 against Montpellier. But the team of coach Alfred Gislasson has severe personal problems: Both keepers are injured: Goran Stojanovic has broken his finger  - it is not yet clear, if he will be able to play in the first league-match on 29th of August. Nandor Fazekas has adductor-problems – but in his case it looks as we will be fit early enoughn. Also injured are:  Robert Gunnarsson (knee-operation), Vedran Zrnic (leg-operation), Denis Zakharow. In the placement-match against Kopenhagen Gummersbach showed the best  performance at the tournament – but it was not enough to win.

Kopenhagen had the better keepers in the end the seven goals by Robert Gunnarsson were not enough and Kopenhagen won after a very close match 33:31 (15:15). Best FCK-player was goalkeeper Steinar Ege, who was highly motivated against his ex-club.