Europos jaunių U17 merginų rankinio čempionate ant prizininkių pakylos kopė Lietuvos rinktinė. Azerbaidžano sostinėje Baku vykusiame antrame pagal pajėgumą Europos čempionato divizione Lietuvos rankininkės iškovojo bronzos medalius.

Kovoje dėl bronzos Lietuvos rinktinė 32:27 (20:16) nugalėjo Farerų salų komandą.

Nugalėtojoms beveik pusę komandos įvarčių surinko Gabija Pilikauskaitė. Lietuvos rinktinės atakų lyderė į varžovių vartus įmetė net 15 įvarčių ir tapo rezultatyviausia Europos čempionato rankininke. Per 6 rungtynes G. Pilikauskaitė pelnė 73 įvarčius ir artimiausias persekiotojas rezultatyviausių žaidėjų sąraše aplenkė net 20 įvarčių. 17-etė G. Pilikauskaitė šią vasarą tapo rezultatyviausia rankininke ir Klaipėdoje vykusiame devyniolikmečių Europos čempionate.

Į Europos čempionato simbolinį septynetą pateko dvi Lietuvos rinktinės rankininkės. G. Pilikauskaitė išrinkta geriausia kairiojo pusiau krašto žaidėja, Agnė Gudlinkytė – geriausia dešiniojo pusiau krašto žaidėja.

A. Gudlinkytė prie bronzinės pergalės prieš Farerų salų rinktinę pridėjo 7 įvarčius, Amelija Selivončikaitė – 4, Marija Čelpačenko – 3, Adelė Augaitė – 2, Augustė Žilinskaitė – 1. Lietuvos rinktinės vartininkė Urtė Čibiraitė atrėmė net 25-is iš 52-iejų (48 proc.) varžovių metimus.

„The girls fulfilled all the tasks we had set on the pitch. In the match against the Faroe Islands national team, we had to change the defensive system, because we aimed to neutralize the most important weapon of the opponents – wing attacks and through the line player. We allowed the competitors to throw from a distance. Our goalkeeper played simply miraculously and such defense paid off in abundance, said Ernesta Žilienė, coach of the Lithuanian junior national team. – In attack, we tried to play fast handball based on counterattacks. Maybe there were too many mistakes, but when you play such fast handball, mistakes are inevitable. The most important thing was the concentration of the girls and the desire to achieve victory. All agreements were implemented and this resulted in bronze medals.“

In the semi-finals, Lithuanian women’s handball players did not match the Spanish national team 19:41 (8:19). G. Pilikauskaitė scored 10 goals, Gabrielė Vēgėlytė – 4, Katia Agosta – 2, Gabija Nievaitė, Gabrielė Laurinaitytė and M. Chelpachenko – 1.

In the final, the Spanish handball players defeated the Slovenian national team 28:20 (14:8) and became the winners of the European Championship and earned a ticket to the World Junior U18 Championship. How many national teams will play in the additional selection tournament will be clear when it becomes clear how many places will be allocated to Europe in the World Cup.

The three best teams of Jazz Weekly Mega  the European Championship, including the Lithuanian national team, claim to enter the elite division of the European Championship. The final list of participants will be determined after taking into account the results achieved in the last three European Junior Championships.

„Lithuanian national team fulfilled the set tasks. The goal was to win medals and we won them. We believed that we could do it and that belief helped us to be among the winners. The national team was missing even six injured handball players. If they were in the composition, we could have really fought against the Spanish in the final, – said E. Žilienė. – This summer, the Lithuanian nineteen-year-old girls’ national team also became the winner of the European Championship. cornhole rule Such good results were determined by the cooperation of national team coaches. With Ala Senvaitiene, the coach of the 19-year-old national team, we were constantly discussing which handball players would represent one or another national team at which time, where they would be able to toughen up more. The national teams exchanged players, everything went very smoothly and the cooperation paid off.“

Photos of Azerbaijan Handball Federation