Handball youngsters

Sgonc and Co. now have their sights set on fifth place

"None of us expected things to go so well at the U20 European Championships," admits Lennio Sgonc. With the Austrian team, the Harder wing will play for fifth place against Sweden in Celje, Slovenia, on Sunday (14:20) after beating Croatia, Montenegro, Iceland and Norway.

"Before the tournament, our coach Michael Draca said that he wanted to win the title," says the 20-year-old. "But that was probably more in jest. Our goal was to get into the main round." As the winners of preliminary round group A, they achieved this with ease. 

Patella tendon causing problems
After the surprising triumph against Iceland, there was even a chance to secure a place in the semi-finals with a win over Portugal. "When we didn't manage that, it was of course a setback and the mood was correspondingly depressed," said Sgonc, looking back on the 23:31 defeat. However, the lads proved their morale and won 30:22 against Norway just one day later.

They are now aiming for another win against Sweden to secure fifth place. How much Sgonc will play is uncertain. "I've been struggling with patellar tendon problems for a while now and have only been able to play and train to a very limited extent recently," revealed the young player from Vorarlberg.