Handball club "LUKoil-Dynamo" demands to punish organizers of Croatia match

On Tuesday press service of the "LUKoil-Dynamo" handball club from Astrakhan informed RIA Novosti that the club filed an appeal to the European Handball Federation with the request to take appropriate measures against organizers of the return match of 1/8 of the EHF Cup between the Astrakhan team and the "Zamet" team from Croatia in connection with violation of sportsmen safety regulations during the match.

On Saturday, 14 December, in the Croatian city of Rieka at the end of the first half of the game of 1/8 of the EHF Cup players of the Zamet team provoked a fist fight in which in addition to players fans of the Balkan team took part.

In the course of the melee several Astrakhan players were seriously injured and that prevented them from further participation in the game. As a result of that chief coach of the Astrakhan team Aleksei Pchelyakov had to withdraw his charges from the field. The match was never resumed.

The LUKoil-Dynamo team (29:19) convincingly won the first match between these teams in Astrakhan. In case of success in the return game in Croatia the Astrakhan team would have reached the next round of the prestigious handball tournament of the Old World. Quarterfinal games were planned for March 2003.

General Director of LUKoil-Dynamo Vladimir Chernov denounced behavior of players and fans of the "Zamet" club. Chernov stated that "it was a pity that dirty tricks of pseudo-lovers of handball disrupted not only the course of the game but the idea itself of international cup competitions."