Semi-finalists set at Bulgaria 2023, as Cyprus down Australia

Cyprus had to dig deep but eventually sealed a 24:21 win against Australia to clinch the last semi-finals berth at the 2023 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, as their opponents will now head to the Placement Matches 5-8.

Group B

• Cyprus vs Australia 24:21 (11:11)

Losing captain Demetris Nikiforou to an injury in the first game against the Republic of Moldova and not being able to rely on Loucas Paraskeva, who sat on the bench without taking the court for a second in the first half, was a huge blow for Cyprus and their challenge to win the title at the 2023 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship.

While their experience was larger than other sides, missing two key cogs in the team was there to be seen in the first half against Australia, in the deciding match of Group B, with the winners taking a semi-finals berth.

For the first 15 minutes, a single Cyprus player, namely back Stephanos Melissas went into the scoresheet, as Australia looked flawless in defence and very good in attack, jumping to an impressive 8:3 lead, which made the European side look flabbergasted.

However, a well-taken timeout by coach Andreas Andreou instilled a bit of life in Cyprus’ attack and made big changes in defence, as the traditional 6-0 defence, which was unable to stop Australia, morphed into an ultra-aggressive 3-3, forcing the opponents to exchange passes at half-court.

Slowly but surely, Cyprus were back in it, using a 7:1 run, spurred by their top scorer against the Republic of Moldova, Alexandros Charalambous, to take back the lead, 10:9. But at the break, it was everybody’s game, despite the fact that Cyprus’ attack had a meagre 50% shooting efficiency.

As Paraskeva took the court, shrugging off his injury from Tuesday’s match, Cyprus gained another dimension in attack and used a 4:1 run to start the second half to create their first three-goal lead in the game (16:13).

Paraskeva also enabled his teammate, Charalambous, to shine, and it looked for one minute that Cyprus had it in the bag, until turnovers started to crack their armour, and Australia duly took advantage, with three fast breaks converted in a row to tie the game, 18:18, with 11 minutes to go.

But Paraskeva and Charalambous, who jumped to the second place in the top goal scorer standings with an 18-goal tally in the competition, worked excellently together, doubled in defence by goalkeeper Georgios Ppoumos. He finished with 11 saves for a 34.3% saving efficiency, got a huge one-on-one stop against Pavle Prokic, and Cyprus ran away with a crucial win for their hopes in the tournament.

The 24:21 win against Australia was Cyprus’ second in a row in the group phase at the 2023 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, one that enabled the European side to seal their second semi-finals berth, after the one clinched six years ago, also in Bulgaria.

On Saturday, Cyprus will face the winners from Group A, India, with a place in the big final on the line. At the same time, Australia meet Andorra in the Placement Matches 5-8, having already secured their best-ever result in the competition.

Player of the Match: Alexandros Charalambous (Cyprus)