Croatia deaf handball team are champions of Europe

by croatiaweek
May 11, 2024
in Sport

Croatia deaf handball team are champions of Europe (Photo: HSSG)

11 May 2024 – The Croatian deaf handball team are the champions of Europe for the 6th time.

Croatia has won gold at the 13th European Deaf Championship in Frankenthal, Germany and defended their European title after defeating the host Germany in the final 27:21.

Germany offered good resistance in the first half, with the scores locked at 10:10 at the break.

In the second half, Croatia began to show their dominance and stretch their lead to 3 points, and they did not lose that advantage again.

(Photo: HSSG)

The defence did a great job, led by Bruno Varšić in goal, who made 10 saves.

On the other hand, the attack was led by the phenomenal Mateo Perak who scored 7 goals, while Andrej Juričević added 5 more goals. Ilija Perak, Oliver Lušić, Florijan Kolarić, Tomislav Bošnjak, Pero Jukić and Teo Glumac were among the scorers.

(Photo: HSSG)

In the ranks of Germany, Sebastian Klein was the best with 9 goals scored.

“The sixth consecutive title is really a source of great joy and pride for us. I believe that the final result does not reflect the true balance of forces on the field. The match was extremely difficult, and our team encountered a lot of bad luck.

I want to praise Germany for an exceptional and fair game, but in the end our strength decided. I am convinced that with this kind of effort from our boys and the wonderful audience, which gave us enormous support in key moments, defeat was simply not an option,” said Oliver Lušić.

(Photo: HSSG)

The player of the tournament was named Tomislav Bošnjak, the goalkeeper of the tournament was Bruno Varšić, and the award for fair play was given to Oliver Lušić.

(Photo: HSSG)

Let’s remind once again that Croatia has been undefeated in competitive matches since Mario Sirotić took over the helm of the national team in 2018.

The Croatian men’s handball national team for the deaf is one of the most trophy-winning sports teams in the Republic of Croatia, having won 8 Olympic medals since of which 5 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze. At the European Championships, they have 6 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze each, while at the World Championships they have won 3 golds.