SASSARI. Handball is also starting to take its first steps after the pandemic and on the island it does it great by welcoming the third edition of the international tournament “Handball Cup Banco di Sardegna”. The…
SASSARI. Handball is also starting to take its first steps after the pandemic and on the island it does it great by welcoming the third edition of the international tournament “Handball Cup Banco di Sardegna”. The bill, scheduled from 26 to 29 August at the PalaSantoru in Sassari, sees the hosts of Raimond Sassari cross Brixen (Bressanone), the Luxembourgers of Esch and the French of Pontault Combault.
Brixen certainly needs no introduction since it is a club that belongs to the history of this sport. The South Tyroleans, who turn 50 this year, have in fact won seven Italian championships and will arrive at PalaSantoru much stronger than in the last A1 championship where they classified in eighth place. Led by Davor Cutura they confirmed last year’s hard core and grafted some experienced players. Brixen is one of the candidate teams for the Italian title and will do everything to enjoy the conquest of the Banco di Sardegna tournament as an appetizer.
Another strong contender for the victory will certainly be Handball Esch, fresh triumph of the Luxembourg championship. The team is based in Esch-sur-Alzette, the second city of Luxembourg, which in its history has won nine league titles and 7 national cups and are regulars of the EHF Cup. But the most important news is that the confrontation with Esch will serve at Raimond as a testing ground in view of the first round of the European Cup scheduled for 17-18 September in Sassari, where they will meet the Luxembourgers of Dundelange, who in the last edition of the national championship finished in fourth place. This challenge will therefore help Pippo Kokuca’s men to understand how they are positioned compared to their opponents in Round 1 of the European Cup.
Pontault Combault is a team based in the homonymous suburb of Paris and ranked second in the last ultra-competitive league of the Liga Pro2, collecting 19 wins, 2 draws and only 5 defeats in 26 games. The calendar of the event sees the opening match on Thursday (20:30) Esch-Raimond, Friday at 18:30 Esch-Brixen and at 20:30 Pontault-Sassari, while next Saturday Esch-Pontault (18:30) and Sassari-Brixen (20:30) to close on Sunday 28 August at 10:30 with the Brixen-Pontault race.
Sergio Masia