Hamburg (dpa) – THW Kiel has secured second place in the table in the Handball Bundesliga. The record champions won their home game against TuS N-Lübbecke 32:23 (13:7) and thus successfully took revenge for the 25:29 in the first leg.
For the league newcomer from East Westphalia, the 17th defeat in a row meant relegation was almost certain. With three games left, coach Emir Kurtagic’s team has six points and 61 goals behind GWD Minden and the saving 16th place.
From the start, THW left no doubt that victory was the only option. The players of coach Filip Jicha acted with concentration and had already thrown a five-goal lead in the eleventh minute to make it 8:3. It didn’t matter that left winger Magnus Landin saw the red card for hitting guest keeper Aljosha Rezar in the face from a seven-metre throw (26′). In total, the Slovenian fended off four penalty throws.
SG Flensburg-Handewitt had a much harder time beating TVB Stuttgart by 28:26 (13:15) in the second half after an increase in performance. In the 34th minute, the North Germans were still trailing by 13:17. Two Danes played well at SG: goalkeeper Kevin Möller made 14 saves, left winger Emil Jakobsen scored eleven goals.