The Lithuanians qualify for the Champions League with away goals after two draws made against Brest.
Granitas-Karys return to CL
After two years, Lithuania will have representative in CL group matches again. After ties against Meshkov Brest 27:27 and 32:32, Kaunas qualified.
Best scorers Mochalov and Malasinskas
In front of 1 000 spectators in Kaunas, the first match ended 27:27 (11:16).
The decisive factor for the home team was good 7-meter shooting (7/7). Despite constant pressure from the very first minute coming from Meshkov, Granitas did not break and equalised at the end.
Granitas’ Aidenas Malasinskas scored 11 goals, Cibulskis 7 and Tomas Kraucevicius 5.
On the other side, Grigory Blagonadezhdin and Andrej Mochalov scored 5 goals each for the Belarus champions.
The second match in Brest offered even more excitement. The result at the break was 14:15 and the match ended again with a tie, 32:32.
The best scorer was left winger Andrej Mochalov with 14 goals; Grigory Blagonadezhdin scored 6. The 21-year old Bernatonis Rolandas managed to score 7 goals for the Lithuanians, Aidenas Malasinkas 6, Kraucevicius Tomas 5, Andrious Zigelis and Jarukas Valdas 4 goals each.
CL start in Stockholm
The best result of Kaunas in the European competitions was a CL 1/8 finals in 1995 and 1996 so far. This time the Lithuanian club will start the CL season in Group A with Celje Pivovarna Lasko, Hammarby and Chambery Savoie HB. In the first round Kaunas will travel to Sweden.
TEXT:
Ivan Ambros