There are four contenders left for the champion title in the Baltic Handball League. Two clubs from Estonia and one each from Latvia and Lithuania are among the top four BHL teams. The final four tournament will take place on April 15-16.

The newcomer to the BHL Final Four, compared to last season, is the ZRHK TENAX Dobele club. ZRHK TENAX Dobele won against last season’s final four participant Dragūnas club.

ZRHK TENAX Dobele – Dragūnas Klaipėda 33:28 (14:11). AGG: 54:52

ZRHK TENAX Dobele – Pančenko 8, Juzups 7, Kreicbergs 5.

Dragūnas – Šmantauskas 16, Drakšas 6, Plakhotin 3.

Sandris Veršakovs (coach, ZRHK TENAX Dobele):

As we expected, it was a very tough match. We had an additional player in the second leg. The eighth player was our fans. They were simply fantastic. We did our best and gave it our all. We have rewritten the history of our club. We made it to the BHL final four for the first time. This is just our first step. We want to go further. We will fight for the highest possible place in the final four.

Gytis Šmantauskas (player, Dragūnas):

We could have taken a bigger lead in the first match at home. In the second leg, most of the players may have been affected by psychological stress. We made too many mistakes, in both attack and defence. We created chances, but did not take them. We missed a lot of shots and struggled in attack. The unsuccessful first half was a wake-up call for us and we tried to change things. But our attack was not successful and our defence was poor.

ZRHK TENAX Dobele will meet cureent BHL champion Viljandi HC in the semi-finals. The other semi-final pair is VHC Šviesa and Pölva Serviti.

Video ZRHK TENAX Dobele – Dragūnas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTo7A0SDbzQ

Photos: Dragūnas Klaipėda