Reigning Olympic champions Russia made a big step towards booking a ticket to Tokyo, as they secured a 29:24 opening victory against Serbia in Tournament 2. 

While the defeat was obviously frustrating for the Balkan team, nothing is lost yet for them before a do-or-die match with Hungary on Saturday.

TOURNAMENT 2
Russia vs Serbia 29:24 (17:13)

A lot was at stake in this encounter, so both sides were nervous and made many mistakes in the opening minutes, and goals were few and far between.

Two goals by Iuliia Managarova powered Russia to a 3:1 lead, yet Serbia drew level at 3:3 by minute 10 before Sladana Pop-Lazic secured their first lead in the game (5:4).

Overall, the first half saw a tight battle, yet, Russia had the upper hand. Good goalkeeping by Anna Sedoykina allowed them to score from counterattacks, and a 4:0 run between minutes 22 and 28 propelled them to a 15:10 lead. 

Serbian goalkeeper Jovana Risovic, who recently made as many as 26 saves for her Slovenian club RK Krim Mercator against Russia’s CSKA in the DELO EHF Champions League match, also stopped some balls, but her effort was not enough as Russia were in front 17:13 at half-time.

“I’m thankful to my team for their performance. This is my debut at the helm of the national team, and the players supported me. The result is good – maybe we made too many mistakes, but it’s just the first game,” said Russia’s coach Aleksey Alexeev. 

Serbia’s left back Jovana Stoiljkovic, who had scored three goals before the break, got a red card for hitting the opponent’s face early in the second half.

While it was a blow for the Balkan team, they showed some great fighting spirit and closed the gap to 20:21, forcing Alekseev to call for a timeout.

It helped his team to weather the storm, and as Serbia got a few two-minute suspensions, Russia again enjoyed a good spell to lead 26:21 with seven minutes to go.

“Russia’s win is well-deserved. We played most of the game at a good level, but lacked concentration in some moments, and the opponents punished us. We will have another test tomorrow, and I hope we’ll be more focused against Hungary,” Serbia’s coach Ljubomir Obradovic said. 

Russia’s leaders Anna Vyakhireva and Darya Dmitrieva, who have recently recovered from injuries, are not yet in their best physical shape, but both showed their quality in this encounter. Notably, Vyakhireva became the top scorer of the game with seven goals, netting both from the 7m line and open play. 

Serbia fought hard until the end and reduced the gap to 23:26, but Vyakhireva’s goal in the 58th minute was quite a relief for Russia, who held their nerve to clinch a 29:24 victory. 

Photo: HHF/Anikó Kovács