Bottom four as expected

On the second last day of the Europa Cup korfball 2012 in Warszawa, the first two games of the day decide the bottom of the ranking. The results are as expected, with the athletes of Ankara converting their improvement of the last few month into victory over Bonson and host Warszawa beating Prievidza, but not without a struggle.

Both games are not so easily decided though. Bonson is able to stay par with Ankara the first half, resulting in 5-6 at the break. Also the second half they come back from 8-5 to 8-7, showing that it takes a certain quality to outplay a playing style like that of Bonson. After the 8-7, Ankara is able to increase the scoring, but Bonson comes back to 10-9. The 13-9 lead proves sufficient to secure victory for Ankara, although Bonson gets close again at 13-11. With a final rush in the last five minutes, Ankara wins 16-11 and claims eleventh place, with Bonson ending twelveth.

The game between Prievidza and Warszawa long looks like it's going to have a Slovak winner. Prievidza dominates the scoring the second quarter of the game, after a first quarter where neither squad seems to be able to find the korf. With 3-2 after fifteen minutes they get a respectable 9-6 half time score in favour of Prievidza Dolphins. Slowly in the second half Warszawa gets a grip on the game and after forty-four minutes and two penalties they are level at 11-11. After that, they create a stable lead and end with a 17-13 victory, having Warszawa Mega Sports end ninth and Prievidza Dolphins tenth.