Handball Dragons Say Goodbye to EC with Third Loss

(Patria) - The BiH handball team was defeated by France with a score of 31:23, in the 3rd round of Group D of the European Championship.

The match had no significant outcome, as both teams in Group D had recorded two losses each against Norway and Portugal, and had lost all chances to advance to the second round even before this match.

Our team started the match excellently and took a 4:1 lead in the 5th minute, driven by the brilliant Nikola Prce who scored three goals. However, French goalkeeper Gerard then started making saves, and the Tricolors equalized in the 11th minute (5:5) after several counter-attacks.

Marko Panić was also in good form, scoring four goals in a mini-run, and the Dragons led 8:6 in the 15th minute. After that, we fell into a series of errors again, and the swift Guigou knew how to punish that, putting France ahead for the first time at 10:9 in the 20th minute, and then extending the lead to +3 (13:10).

The teams went into halftime with France leading 14:13, largely thanks to the excellent Marko Panić with seven goals, while Nikola Prce added four.

The second half did not start well, and France extended their lead to +4 (18:14) in the 39th minute. The Dragons then reduced the deficit to two goals, but it was only a glimmer of hope. The French soon led 24:19, and it was clear that we could no longer get back into the match.

The final score was 31:23. The Dragons suffered three losses in the group but did not disgrace themselves. Participating in this EC is certainly a great experience for future challenges, where with adequate support from state institutions, we can hope for even better performances from our team.

Marko Panić scored seven goals for BiH, Nikola Prce six, and Ibrahim Haseljić three. On the other side, Porte was the most effective with seven goals, and Guigo scored five times.