Dobele handball side loses in Serbia and exits EHF European Cup

Latvian handball club ZRHK Tenax Dobele has ended its run in the EHF European Cup, a competition run by the European Handball Federation. In the return leg of the second-round tie in Leskovac, Serbia, the Dobele side lost to the home club RK Dubočica 54 by 29:32 (13:19 at half-time). The Serbs won 73:61 over the two games and advanced to the third round of the tournament.

Both matches were held in Leskovac, because Dobele chose to play both ties on the opponent's court to save money.

First leg

Yesterday, with Dobele nominally the hosts, the Latvians started confidently and led 3:0 in the fifth minute. The Serbs levelled before the break, and the sides went in at 17:17. After the restart Dubočica took the initiative, but in the 34th minute scores from Kārlis Krūmiņš and Rauls Erlends Serafimovičs made it 20:20 again. Between the 49th and 56th minutes Dobele received three two-minute suspensions and made several errors in attack, and the Serbs scored seven unanswered goals to lead 39:29. The game ended 32:41.

Return leg

Today Dobele needed to overturn a nine-goal deficit. The Latvians led 5:3 early on, but the hosts soon equalised and moved ahead, and by half-time they led 19:13. Dobele played the second half better than their opponents, but managed to cut the gap by only half.

Serafimovičs was Dobele's top scorer, converting nine of 13 shots. Ņikita Pančenko scored six goals and Linards Usāns five.