Belarus impress, teams looking for semi-final spots on final preliminary day

After the past two action-packed days, just one preliminary round matchday remains as the Men’s 20 EHF Championship enters the business end in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.

All games from Skopje will be streamed live on ehfTV.com.

Men’s 20 EHF Championship: FYR Macedonia
Preliminary Round – Matchday 3 & 4
Boris Trajkovski Arena, Skopje

Group A
With four wins from four, Belarus are clearly in the semi-finals ahead of their final preliminary round game against Faroe Islands later today.

The past two matchdays saw them beat Lithuania by one (30:29) and Finland by nine (39:30) with Yulyan Hiryk scoring seven against the Lithuanians to take the best player award, while his teammate Mikita Chyzhyk scored six in the Finland victory to grab the MVP award in that match.

On Monday (23 July) Finland got their first victory, beating Faroe Islands 29:24, while Estonia came from behind at the break to beat Greece 28:27 with an amazing 12-goal performance from best player of the match Alfred Timmo.

Faroe Islands managed to recover the following day, coming from behind to beat Estonia 20:19 in a low-scoring match which saw the Faroese goalkeeper Hordur Trygvason named best player due to his important influence in securing the victory.

Greece also recovered to easily beat Lithuania 39:34 in an action-packed game which featured two 10-goal scorers for the Greeks, as both best player Nikolaos Koykmisis and Ioannis Kalomoiros got to double figures.

The battle for second place in the group today will go right to the wire with Estonia and Faroe Islands both hoping that they can grab the runners-up spot and semi-final place.

Group B
The Macedonians sit pretty at the top of group B with five points from three games but know they if they should lose today against Ukraine and Switzerland beat Italy then they will not make the last four.

The hosts have been in action the past two matchdays, drawing 27:27 with Italy and beating Switzerland 30:24 after a dominant first half where they led 17:9. Mario Tankoski scored six in that match to ensure his performance earned him the best player award.

Third-placed Ukraine beat Great Britain 20:16 in a low-scoring match which saw the half-time score of 8:6 in favour of the Ukrainians, as GB goalkeeper Craig McClelland did his best to construct a wall in front of the Macedonian attack.  The British also lost against Italy in the other group B game, as they suffered a heavy 31:16 defeat, having only scored five first-half goals and they remain the only team in Skopje without any points.

Hitting the net
Estonian right back Sander Sarapuu now has company in the tournament top-scoring list with 26 goals, as 10 strikes from Nicolo D’Antino for Italy against Great Britain, put him equal on 26.

Men’s 20 EHF Championship – FYR Macedonia: Results – Matchday 3 & 4

Monday 23 July

Group A
Belarus vs Lithuania 30:29 (15:14)
Faroe Islands vs Finland 24:29 (13:14)
Greece vs Estonia 27:28 (17:16)

Group B
Italy vs FYR Macedonia 27:27
Ukraine vs Great Britain 20:16

Tuesday 24 July

Group A
Faroe Islands vs Estonia 20:19 (10:11)
Finland vs Belarus 30:39 (15:18)
Lithuania vs Greece 34:39 (14:20)

Group B
Italy vs Great Britain 31:16
FYR Macedonia vs Switzerland 30:24

Follow the Men’s 20 EHF Championship in FYR Macedonia
Playing Schedule: http://eurohandball.com/ech/01-01/20/men/2018/round/1/Championship+-+MKD
Official website: https://m20championship2018.mk/
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/m20EHFChampionship2018/
ehfTV: https://www.ehftv.com/int/livestream-schedule/2018/july

Photos: Filip Viranovski