The Lithuanians, who entered the fight without the important members of the national team Jonas Truchanovičius and Gerda Babarskas, started the match coolly and had a two-goal advantage (4:2 and 5:3), and kept the lead until the middle of the first half. The guests ended the first 30 minutes more successfully, winning the first half 13:11.
The Hungarians, who took fifth place in the last European Championship and are playing in this year’s Paris Olympic Games, began to prove their superiority over the Lithuanians in the second half.
In the beginning, the opponents scored five goals in a row and trailed by 20:14. In the second half, the difference between the teams increased to 9 goals (27:18), and despite the Lithuanians’ attempts to reduce the difference, they managed to do so only minimally and failed by 7 goals at the “Twinsbet” arena in Vilnius.
Having dramatically defeated the Finns in the first qualifying round, the Lithuanians aim to return to the World Championship for the first time since 1997, when they took 10th place.
The return match in the Hungarian city of Veszprem will be played on Sunday. The winner of the pair will win a ticket to the world championships, which will be held next January in three countries – Croatia, Denmark and Norway.
Lithuanian handball players have participated in the world championship only once. In 1997, our team took 10th place in the world championships in Japan. By the way, at that time one of the team leaders was the current national team coach G. Savukynas.
