The surprise team TSV Hannover-Burgdorf has on 22. With a 28:27 (14:13) against record champion THW Kiel, the German Handball Bundesliga’s lead of the standings has been taken over. Thanks to the 16. With a win of the season and 35:9 points, the team from Lower Saxony moved past the previous leader Rhein-Neckar Löwen (34:6), but the defending champion has played two games less.
The team from Kiel (29:15 points) have to fear for a Champions League place after their second defeat in a row, especially since their rivals Füchse Berlin (34:8) and SG Flensburg-Handewitt (34:10) didn’t give each other a hard time. Kiel slipped to sixth place and could miss the top flight for the first time in 15 years.
Berlin prevailed 24:20 (12:12) against SC DHfK Leipzig, Flensburg finished the compulsory task at the tail light TV Hüttenberg with a 30:23 (16:11). In further games SC Magdeburg Frisch defeated Goeppingen 30:27 (15:14) and moved past Kiel to fifth place, HC Erlangen and GWD Minden separated 26:26 (15:14).
In front of 9,000 spectators in the sold-out TUI arena, Kiel kept the game open for the long injured world handball player Domagoj Duvnjak’s (3 goals) comeback into the final phase. A few seconds before the end Christian Dissinger missed the big chance to equalize with a miss. Casper Mortensen (9) was the best scorer of the Hanoverians, Niclas Ekberg scored five times for the THW.