Partizan Belgrade won 1st place at the tournament “Novi Sad Open 2022”, organized by Vojvodina.
Partizan beat Szeged 12:9 in the last round and finished the competition with three wins in as many games. This duel was decisive for 1st place, because both teams were unbeaten before the 3rd round.
Greek Peristeri finished in 3rd place since it narrowly defeated host Vojvodina (13:12) in the last round.
Tournament “Novi Sad Open 2022”
Round 3
Peristeri – Vojvodina 13:12 (2:4, 3:2, 6:3, 2:5)
Peristeri: Karountzos 5, Kazazis 2, Koukoumakis 2, Foskolos 2, Torakis 1, Laolas 1.
Vojvodina: Kasum 7, Radovanlija 2, Biocanin 2, Blazevic 1.
Szeged – Partizan 9:12 (1:5, 3:3, 3:2, 2:2)
Szeged: Kardos 2, Bobis 2, Baj 2, Santa 1, Toth 1, Boros 1.
Partizan: Gak 4, Gladovic 2, Smiljevic 2, Trtovic 1, V.Bodiroga 1, Giga 1, Krstic 1.
Partizan took a flying start and scored three unanswered goals in the first three minutes of a clash with Szeged. In the middle of the quarter, the Belgrade-based team had an 8:2 advantage. After that, Szeged, which had 10 players on the roster today, started climbing back and halved the deficit early in the fourth (5:8). At the finish of the game, the Hungarians, which have a more experienced team than Partizan, came even closer (7:9, 8:10, 9:11), but a young team from Belgrade managed to rebuilt a 3-goal lead from the beginning of the match and finished the tournament in 1st place.
Stefan Gak was the best scorer with four goals, while Partizan’s defense did an excellent job as it shut off Szeged’s best scorer Peter Dominik Kurti. He scored eight goals in the first two rounds, but he didn’t find the net today.
Host Vojvodina played similarly as against Partizan yesterday. The home team opened the game well, but Vojvodina lost its rhythm in the middle of the match. In the sixth minute, Vojvodina led 4:1. The Greeks leveled at 5:5 in the second and 7:7 in the third period. The Serbs went in front again in the 19th minute (8:7). However, the Greeks replied with a 4:0 series. They earned an 11:7 advantage, which was crucial for their victory. Vojvodina managed to cut the deficit but not to equalize.
Petar Kasum, one of Vojvodina’s reinforcements, was unstoppable. He netted seven goals. Peristeri’s power engine was captain Dionisios Karountzos, with five goals.
Previous results – Round 1:Peristeri – Partizan 13:15, Vojvodina – Szeged 7:13. Round 2: Szeged – Peristeri 19:11,
Vojvodina – Partizan 7:10
Standings: 1. Partizan 9, 2. Szeged 6, 3. Peristeri 3, 4. Vojvodina 0.
