Handball: Champions League: Flensburg playful last quarter-final chance

Handball runner-up SG Flensburg-Handewitt lost his last theoretical chance to make it into the quarter-finals in the Champions League.

Coach Maik Machulla’s squad owns the leading star ensemble of Paris St after 21:29 (10:19) in the third-last group B preliminary round. Germain, with international Uwe Gensheimer no longer stand a chance of winning the group, and after his third defeat he has to make the final round of the last sixteen.

After the twelfth matchday, Flensburg dropped to third place with 15 points behind the Hungarian top team KC Veszprem. However, even before the show in France, the North Germans could not be replaced by one of the five places behind group winners Paris (22 points) and were thus already qualified for the round of sixteen.

Gensheimer and the three-time world handball player Nikola Karabatic with five goals each were the most successful throwers among the hosts. In Flensburg’s team, Frenchman Kentin Mahe, who will play for Veszprem from summer onwards, was the best throwing man with six goals in 17 attempts. Dane Henrik Toft Hansen, who will be playing for Paris from next season, scored four goals against his future team.