Gintaras Savukyn’s students fought evenly for most of the first half against formidable opponents. At the end of the game, the score was still equal – 10:10, but then Karolis Antanavičius and Matas Aukštikalnis were removed from the field one after the other for two minutes, and the Hungarians took advantage of this and took the lead – 11:13.
After the break, the game advantage of the guests became even more evident and they built up a 7-goal lead before the return meeting.
The return match will be played in Vesprem on Sunday.
For Lithuania, Mindaugas Dumčius and K. Antanavičius scored 6 goals each, Aiden Malašinskas – 5, and Gabrielius Virbauskas – 3 goals.
Bence Imre with 11 and Gabor Ancsin with 8 goals stood out in the Hungarian ranks.
This year, the Hungarians took fifth place in the European Championship, and then achieved their goal in the Olympic selection tournament held at home – in the summer in Paris, the Hungarian national team will step onto the Olympic field after a 12-year break.
And the Lithuanian mission was made even more difficult by the losses of key players who exposed the defense: Jonas Truchanovičius is again recovering from a serious knee injury, and captain Gerdas Babarskas was detained by back pain.
The 2025 World Cup will be held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway.
The only time Lithuanians played in the World Championship was in 1997, when they took 10th place among 24 teams in Japan.
Tags: Lithuanian national handball team lost important match Hungarians
