Off to a winning start

An under-strength Canberra handball club opened their 2008 NSW league campaign with a scrappy 25 to 22 win over Sydney Uni Blue, at Olympic Park on Saturday.

The teams went goal for goal for most of the first half but with five minutes to the break, new recruit Daniel Döring scored three times in quick succession to give Canberra a 15:12 lead at the thirty minute mark. 

Canberra, missing several players, then squandered the lead quickly, receiving four unanswered goals at the start of the second half.

From then on, both teams pushed for control of the game as the lead swayed from one side to another but a late surge by Canberra put the game beyond doubt.

Captaining the team for the first time Karsten Oelkers was satisfied with the team’s performance, saying that it was “good to start with a win but we need to do a lot more to get to last year’s form”.

Making their first appearances for the team were Jamie Richardson, Robert Davis and Daniel Döring.

For Sydney Uni, new comers Micha Bristle and Selso Figueredo stood out with strong performances and veteran Zeke Desiatnik, founder of the Sydney Uni club, was in good scoring form with five goals.

In other games, Hills Heat surprised last year’s semi-finalists Harbourside with a convincing seven goal victory whilst Sydney Uni Gold had little trouble overcoming the young team of Hills Blaze, winning 39:14. 

Canberra HC defeated Sydney Uni Blue 25:22 – For Canberra (Jamie Richardson, Dragan Radicoski (1), Robert Davis (3), Nathan Cheung (2), Karsten Oelkers (4), Daniel Döring (6) and Taip Ramadani (9).