Victory against Krems

HC Hard follows Linz into the handball final

Hard celebrates advancing to the final.(Bild: GEPA)

Basic round winners HC Hard have followed eighth-placed HC Linz into the final of the Handball Liga Austria (HLA) after the regular season. 

The club from Vorarlberg beat UHK Krems 30:26 (12:13) at home in the deciding game of the "best of three" semi-final series on Friday. This was the second time in a row that the Krems team had reached the semi-finals after winning the championship in 2022. Hard is back in the final series for the first time since losing the final two years ago.

Final opener on Tuesday
Hard turned the game around after the break. The home side trailed throughout the first half. They only pulled away decisively - by three goals - with 1:50 minutes to go. Karolis Antanavicius was Vorarlberg's top scorer with eight goals. Daniel Dicker scored nine times for the visitors.

The opening game of the final series will also take place in Hard on Tuesday (20:20). After a difficult basic round, runners-up Linz had beaten Schwaz (2:1) in the quarter-finals and surprisingly also Fivers Margareten (2:0) in the semi-finals. Hard were last champions in 2021, Linz in 1996.