The second match in Alexandria saw Slovenia have no problems with the 2020 AHF Men’s Asian Championship runners-up, Republic of Korea. They are the first team in Group H to take two points and are atop the group, after Belarus and the Russian Handball Federation drew earlier today.

GROUP H 
Slovenia vs Republic of Korea 51:29 (25:16) 

Right wing Blaz Janc opened Slovenia’s World Championship campaign with three goals in the first three minutes. The Korean defence gave enough space for the wings to score five of the first ten goals in the opening ten minutes, giving Slovenia a comfortable 10:3 lead and causing Korean coach Il Koo Kang to call a time-out.

Goalkeeper Changwoo Lee and Janc had their own battle in the first half, as Janc scored five times while Lee saved four of his attempts, including two in a row. 

Captain Jure Dolenec was the one to score to give his side a ten-goal lead at 17:7. However, Korea continued to find creative solutions and used their speed, winning several one-against-one duels against the Slovenian defence to not let the game get away. Still, they trailed by nine goals, 15:26, at halftime. 

It took Slovenia only one minute into the second half to restore the ten-goal lead again at 27:17 thanks to a Rok Ovnicek goal. 

A scary moment early in the second half when Korea left back Younggil Kim had to be carried off the court after suffering a knee injury. 

In the 47th minute, it was right wing Dragan Gajic’s time to shine, scoring not only the 40th goal for Slovenia, but as well as the 45th goal eight minutes before the final buzzer. Gajic who scored again to give Slovenia a twenty-goal lead at 48:28 late in the second, while Matic Suholeznik scored the 50th Slovenian goal. 

“We are happy with the result. It was the first match in this tournament and I’m happy with my team. We played a good defence, scored a lot of goal and our coach give the chance to to every player on court,” said Janc, who together with his right wing partner Gajic scored 19 goals. 

“It’s good to play against a different style of handball and I‘m happy for Korea. They play good handball and I wish them good luck throughout the tournament.”
 
hummel Player of the Match: Miha Zarabec, Slovenia