In the first-leg duel between Partizan and Telekom Veszprem, Serbian vice-champions have managed to reach a comfortable win at home, in the end celebrating a convincing 39:24 victory in Belgrade! Nikola Zecevic led the home team with eight goals and six assists, while Veljko Popovic netted five to go along with 10 assists. The second leg will be played next Wednesday in Veszprem.

The hosts opened the match looking really well on both sides of the court. After the initial five minutes they have, with a 5:0 scoring series, managed to widen the gap to 9:4. Ten minutes later it was +7 (15:8), and by the end of the first they were already ten goals ahead (21:11). Andrej Trnavac continued where he stopped in the final match of the regular season grabbing six saves in the first 30 minutes. Nikola Zecevic had an incredible first half exploding for seven goals, while Veljko Popovic added four. Botond Janowszky was, on the other side, leading Telekom Veszprem with three.

In the second half, we’ve seen more of the same, with hosts pushing throughout the entire course of the game playing really well on both sides of the court, steadily widening the gap all the way to the final +15 (39:24). Nikola Zecevic delivered a splendid outing finishing the game with eight goals and six assists, while Veljko Popovic netted five to go along with 10 assists. On the other side, Marko Eklemovic went 7/7 for Telekom Veszprem. Partizan has that way once again managed to prove to be a really good team, especially playing in front of their fans in Belgrade.

The second leg will be played next Wednesday in Veszprem.

Petar Zujovic, Partizan assistant coach:
It was difficult for us to prepare for this match, because we were defeated by Vojvodina on Sunday. We had to prepare well psychologically. Veszprem’s rejuvenated team showed great talent. For us, it is an honour to play against club such as Veszprem. We are looking forward to the second match and can’t wait to feel the atmosphere at their home court.

Milos Cekic, Partizan player:
The match was really dynamic, with a lot of runs and transitions. Our coach advised us to play firmly and aggressively from the first minute and I’m sure we did our job in the best possible way.

Dinko Dankovic, Telekom Veszprem coach:
Partizan deserved to win tonight. For my team, the opportunity to play in the SEHA - Gazprom League is a reward. It will be very useful for the future of these young players. They were a little bit nervous at the beginning - statistics and number of mistakes confirm that. We hope to deliver a better performance in the second match.

Pinter Benedekt, Telekom Veszprem player:
Congratulations to Partizan. They did a really good job. We expected very tough game. It was a pleasure to play in the SEHA – Gazprom League for the first time. We expected a little bit better result, but we can learn a lot from this match. We believe that the second leg match will be better for us.