On Tuesday evening in the EHF European League Men, IK Sävehof once again took all hope from PAUC Handball. On home ground, the Swedish side recorded their third victory of the season, 33:31, leaving the French side still without a win in group C.
GROUP C
IK Sävehof (SWE) vs PAUC Handball (FRA) 33:31 (18:14)
- Sävehof made a good start with another great performance by Bertram Obling, his nine saves in the first half helped the home team to gain the lead
- Sävehof held a five-goal lead four times in the first 30 minutes before Aix had a short spell of good defence and closed the gap to two goals
- Aix had stronger second half, took advantage of their opponent’s mistakes and were down by one, two minutes before the end (31:32)
- Bertram Obling enjoys playing against Aix. In the teams' first match he stopped them 15 times, tonight he raised the bar to 17. He appears to share that feeling with Elias Ellefsen a Skipagotu who added 10 goals tonight after scoring six times in France
- Kristján Örn Kristjánsson scored seven times for the French team, but young Kalim Zahaf took the spotlight with crucial saves throughout the match
Young guns show potential
The spotlight was on two young players facing each other, both 19-years old. On the Swedish side Elias Ellefsen a Skipagotu from the Faroe Islands is living his dream as he plays at a high level this season. In tonight’s match, he scored 10 times to break his season’s record and lead his team to another victory.
On the other side, Kalim Zahaf tried to stop him and his opponents with his saves, something he delivered throughout the match. Given a chance at the end of the first half he ended the match with seven saves, all made at crucial moments when Aix had a chance to catch up and even to take the lead.
Handball life has just started for these two, but they are two to watch for in the future.