Second leg review of the Challenge Cup Quarter-finals

The second leg of the Men´s Challenge Cup quarter-finals saw four teams celebrating their progress to the semi-finals as the European campaign of other four finished last Saturday. Romania´s CSU Suceava will meet the biggest surprise of the competition Handball Esch from Luxembourg in the semi-finals. The second pairing consists from Norwegian IL Runar and SKA Minsk from Belarus.

First leg is scheduled for 20/21 April, the second leg will follow one week later.

SKA Minsk (BLR) vs Radnički Kragujevac (SRB) 42:29 (20:13)
Radnički Kragujevac (SRB) vs SKA Minsk (BLR) 27:43 (12:20)

The army club from Minsk cruised to the semi-final stage in an impressive fashion scoring 85 goals in two home matches against the Serbian opponents.

The Belarusian international Barys Pukhouski led his team with 13 goals in the first match and 18 in total which raised his tally in this season to 55 goals in six matches.

Handball Esch (LUX) vs Initia Hasselt (BEL) 28:27 (15:14)
First leg: 28:26

The all-Benelux affair turned out into a real thriller between two teams fighting for their first ever semi-finals appearence. The Dutch key player of Hasselt Bart Köhlen managed to score 10 goals twice in a row, but yet again it was not enough to beat Esch who were pushed by almost 700 spectators in Centre Omnisport H. Schmitz.

IL Runar (NOR) vs Drammen HK (NOR) 38:32 (20:14)
First leg: 29:28

Runar brought only one goal cushion from the Drammen´s court, but their lead swelled to a commanding 7 goal gap before the half-time. The 1996 winners of the Men´s Challenge Cup could not find a way how to stop the Swedish centre back Joakim Patriksson who scored 11 goals.

CSU Suceava (ROU) vs BB Ankara Spor (TUR) 30:27 (17:13)
First leg: 33:36

Suceava are another step closer to repeat their run from the 2008/09 season, when they failed only in the final against fellow Romanian team from Resita. Another victory by three goals over Ankara confirmed their semi-finals ticket.

Photo: www.gazetasv.ro

Further information
Find all results here and semi-finals schedule here.