The top quartet of the handball Bundesliga is in the semi-finals of the DHB Cup. On Sunday evening, league table leaders SC Magdeburg won their quarter-finals against defending champions Rhein-Neckar Löwen with 34:24 (18:14) and were the last participants to book their ticket to the Final Four.
In the afternoon, the Füchse Berlin, second in the league, prevailed against VfL Gummersbach with 31:29 (16:13). SG Flensburg-Handewitt and MT Melsungen had already qualified on Saturday, currently in third and fourth place in the league. The final tournament will take place on April 13th and 14th in Cologne.
The Magdeburg duel with the Lions was a quick cup reunion, both teams had faced each other in the final last year – and this time the SCM had the better end. The second half of the game in particular was a clear affair, the hosts followed a 5-0 run with a 6-0 run, and with 10 minutes to go the game was practically decided. The Icelandic Omar Ingi Magnusson was the best thrower of a very variable Magdeburg team with eight goals, while national player Tobias Reichmann scored seven goals for the Lions. Juri Knorr, Germany’s playmaker at the recent home European Championships, had to be content with three goals.
In the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, the Danish vice-European champions Mathias Gidsel and Hans Lindberg were the Foxes’ most dangerous throwers. Gidsel scored nine times and Lindberg scored six goals. On Gummersbach’s side, European Championship shooting star Julian Köster only scored three goals. The old masters from Oberberg have already won the DHB Cup five times, but all of these successes come from the 70s and 80s.
On Saturday, Flensburg won at HSV Hamburg (37:25), Melsungen struggled to win against second division team TuS N-Lübbecke (30:28). In the league, the European Championship break ends next week.