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Lemgos Dani Baijens scored twice against the Kiel favorite
Photo: Axel Heimken / dpa
In a spectacular semi-final of the DHB Cup, the handball players of TBV Lemgo Lippe sensationally prevailed against defending champion and record cup winner THW Kiel. The Lemgoers turned an 11:18 break delay into a 29:28 success in a dramatic second half. In the cup final on Friday (5.30 p.m., TV: ARD and Sky) there is now an outsider duel against MT Melsungen, who prevailed in the second semi-final with 26:24 (14:10) against Hannover-Burgdorf.
In front of 1,600 fans in the Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, the Bundesliga leaders from Kiel seemed to turn the evening into a debacle for the 11th from Lemgo for 30 minutes.
Ex-national player Christoph Theuerkauf, now actually working as a youth coordinator at TBV and only a temporary worker at the age of 36, had brought the outsider 1-0 up - but after 13 minutes at the latest, Kiel pulled away.
"I think we were already dead at the break for all of handball Germany," said Lemgo coach Florian Kehrmann after the game.
In his half-time speech, he appealed to the team's morale: "I told them to keep showing their hearts, no matter how the game ends."
In the second 30 minutes, Lemgo was clearly improved, especially on the defensive, with goalkeeper Peter Johannesson standing out in particular.
The Swede showed 14 saves, seconds before the end of the game he fended off a throw from Kiel's Harald Reinkind and thus became the match winner.
The Lemgoers now have the chance to be crowned cup winners for the first time since 2001, for final opponent Melsungen it would be the first title in the club's history.
cev / dpa / sid