Record champion THW Kiel started into the Handball Bundesliga with a sovereign victory from the six-week European Championship break. The team of coach Alfred Gislason celebrated on Sunday at the 37:25 (19:13) at Aufsteiger TV Hüttenberg the sixth league victory in a row.
The TuS N-Lübbecke got some air in the relegation fight after the 24:21 (8:8) in the basement duel against the TVB Stuttgart. For the Stuttgart team, on the other hand, it was the ninth consecutive defeat.
Kiel (29) secured fifth place with a success, Hüttenberg remains seven points second last behind Lübbecke (10) and Stuttgart (9). The THW had already won their first match of the year against the Hungarian top team KC Veszprem in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The two Swedish runners-up European champions Niclas Ekberg (9) and Lukas Nilsson (8) were the best throwers of the match in the Gießen sports hall east, which was sold out for the first time with 2600 spectators. The former world handball player Domagoj Duvnjak was still missing due to a rupture of the muscle fibre caused by the European Championship.
In the key match in the relegation fight, the seven goals of former world champion Michael Kraus were not enough for the Stuttgart team.