Written by Shmuel Dean Elmas
The end of the Israeli handall league first round will be on next Friday but even before we know 3 teams that won’t meet each other in the Israeli handball cup 1/16 finals.
Maccabi Rishon LeZion, Hapoel Ashdod and the champions and cup holders, Hapoel Rishon LeZion, secured their places in the top four and H.C Ness Ziona need a point vs. Maccabi next week to secure the last place in the top four.
Maccabi stayed with 100% in the league with impressing 36:24 on Bnei Herzliya after 21:9 in the half time. The players of Saar Frenkel will meet the disappointing SGS Ramat Hasharon on Monday. Ramat Hasharon looked pretty bad in the away match with H.C Holon but it was enough to beat them 28:26.
After Maccabi-Ramat Hasharon fascinating clash the main event on Friday will be between Hapoel Ashdod and Hapoel Rishon LeZion. Ashdod stayed in the second place with 27:23 on Hapoel Ramat Gan and Rishon LeZion won in the same result vs. Ironi Rehovot.
In the bottom of the table, H.C Beer Sheba beat Hapoel Kiryat Ono 29:25 and Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin was not good enough to suprise H.C Ness Ziona who won 33:27 without the Bosnian, Elis Memic.
STANDING:
| 1. | Maccabi Le Zion | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 361:264 | 20 |
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| 2. | Hapoel Ashdod | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 302:247 | 18 |
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| 3. | Hapoel Le Zion | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 298:266 | 14 |
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| 4. | Nes Tziona | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 329:305 | 12 |
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| 5. | Rehovot | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 275:293 | 10 |
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| 6. | Bnei Herzliya | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 325:341 | 10 |
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| 7. | Ramat Hasharon | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 304:287 | 9 |
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| 8. | MK Beer Sheva | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 262:294 | 8 |
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| 9. | Maccabi Avishai Motzkin | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 267:316 | 7 |
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| 10. | Hapoel Kiriyat | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 265:313 | 6 |
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| 11. | MK Holon | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 288:313 | 3 |
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| 12. | Hapoel Ramat Gan | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 252:289 | 3 |
PHOTO: Omer Gera, credit- Hen Calderon
