It was the 15 June 2014, the day every sports fan in Bosnia-Herzegovina will remember. On that day the national football team made their first ever appearance at a FIFA World Cup final tournament. And despite a great fight they lost their opener against eventual finalist Argentina 2:1. Four hours earlier, the Bosnian handball team made their biggest coup in history. A wholly unexpected 29:29 match at Iceland made the whole nation jump for joy as after winning the first leg of this play-off 33:32 the draw granted the Bosnians their first ever appearance at a major event, as they booked their ticket for the 2015 World Championship in Doha.
“The best day of my life,” said coach Dragan Markovic. “We had hoped for it, but we could only be sure when the final whistle was blown. An incredible emotion.” His team had even been ahead in this second leg by an intermediate six-goal margin, while Iceland thought they could turn the tide easily as the biggest Bosnian problem had been their weakness in away matches.
But things changed in Reykjavik, in contrast to the qualification for the 2013 World Championship two years before. Then Bosnia-Herzegovina had lost their first leg play-off match in Germany 36:24, and the deal seemed to be sealed. But on home ground they showed their true face, winning 33:24 and having the Germans on the edge of elimination.
Never before had Markovic’s team qualified for any European or World Championship, although in previous years they had come close. But now they are part of the Doha event, in contrast to their much more internationally experienced neighbours like Serbia or Montenegro, as the fourth team from former Yugoslavia, along with Croatia, FYR Macedonia (two of their opponents in the preliminary round) and Slovenia.
At the draw event in Doha, Mirza Muzurovic, director of the Bosnian Handball Federation, was very pleased that his schedule includes a return to Qatar in January. “We don’t know yet which result we can reach in this group, but what we know is that we will give all we can to show that we are a deserved participant of this World Championship. We are proud to be at a tournament like this for the first time, in a beautiful place with outstanding venues.”
Now they all cruise their maiden voyage to Doha, where they will face Austria, Tunisia and Iran. Markovic has prepared his team well: In the first two duels of the EURO 2016 qualification they tied at World Championship participant Belarus and gave two-time World Championship finalist Denmark a tough fight for 60 minutes, losing by just two points 25:23.
(Source: qatarhandball2015)
