The Latvian men’s handball team failed in the first World Cup qualifier tournament on Friday in the Faroese capital Tourhavn.
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Latvia conceded to the Italian handball players with the result 23:36 (13:21).
Despite the fact that Latvian handball players scored the first goal at the beginning of the first half, Italy quickly took the lead, achieving a ten-point advantage (19: 9). By the end of the first half, Latvia had managed to reduce its deficit slightly, breaking the gap by eight goals.
At the start of the second half, the two teams exchanged goals. After that, the Latvian handball players managed to reduce the deficit to seven goals, but soon the opponents regained the advantage of ten goals, which continued to increase until the end of the game.
Dainis Krištopāns stood out in the Latvian national team with five goals scored, Oskars Arājs scored four goals, and Austris Tuminskis added three more goals. Meanwhile, Nicolo D’Antino scored seven goals for the Italian national team, with Thomas Bortoli and Andrea Parizini scoring five goals.
On Saturday, Latvians will compete with Luxembourg at 8 pm, and on Sunday, at 9 pm, with their hosts.
The two best teams from each of the four groups will qualify for the second phase of the qualifying tournament.
Covid-19 cases have already been reported in the Bulgarian national team, so the European Championship qualifiers scheduled for January 6 in Valmiera and January 9 in Varna have been postponed. They will be held on January 22 and 23 in Dobele.
National team coach Sandis Veršakovs pointed out that the canceled games had slightly changed the preparation process for the World Cup qualifiers, but the team quickly adapted to it.
The final tournament of the World Championship with the participation of 32 units will take place from 11 to 29 January 2023 in Poland and Sweden.
In addition to the housewives, the place in the final tournament has already been secured for the world champion Denmark.
The four teams will secure a place in the World Cup in the finals of the European Championships currently taking place in Slovakia and Hungary.
Composition of the Latvian national team for games in the Faroe Islands:
goalkeepers – Edgars Kukša (“OHV Aurich”, Germany), Raitis Puriņš (ASK National Guard / LSPA), Artūrs Kuģis (“Varberg”, Sweden);
field players – Nikita Panchenko, Austris Tuminskis, Nils Miķelsons, Emīls Kurzemnieks, Nils Kreicbergs, Andis Ērmanis, Antons Šuleiko, Oskars Arājs, Egils Politers (all – Dobeles “Tenax”), Kristers Rihards Ozols (ASK Zemessardze / LSP) (Paris “Saint-Germain”, France), Renārs Grebenņikovs (“Latgols”), Artūrs Meikšāns (Pelvas “Serviti”, Estonia), Elvijs Borodovskis (“TSG Habloch”, Germany), Linards Usāns (“Latgols”), Rihards Leja (“Ogre”).
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