The Belarusian handball team sensationally beat the Icelandic team in the group stage of the European Championships in Poland with a close score of — 39:38

In the second round of the Group B competition, Yuri Shevtsov’s trainees beat Iceland. After their opening match against Croatia —where the Belarusians played well but unfortunately lost 21:27, our guys made a strong start against Iceland.

Before the break, the teams were playing equally well and the northern team held the advantage by just one point — 18:17. Boris Pukhovsky — who scored five times — put in a great performance, as did the captain of the Belarusian team — Sergey Rutenko — who scored 4.

In the second half, the Icelanders moved ahead, creating a four- point advantage. However, the Belarusians managed to pull in front. The decisive moment being in the last minute when, with the score at 38:37, Belarus’ head coach Yuri Shevtsov called time out — encouraging the players to send 19-year-old Vladislav Kulesh to make a decisive throw. The team agreed and Vladislav’s powerful throw made the score — 39:37. The Icelanders tried hard to complete their last attack but ran out of time with the final score reading 39:38. 

With 77 points, the match was one of the highest scoring games ever seen in an international finals match. Praise must go to high scoring Belarusians handballers, Boris Pukhovsky (who took 11 points) and Sergey Rutenko (8).