PRAGUE - Czech field hockey players took a historic second place at the European Indoor Championships. After the final defeat against the defending champions Germany 2:5, the women won their first silver medal after two bronze medals in 2000 and 2020. The German landwomen won the continental championship for the third time in a row and for the 18th time in history.
The Czechs played better in the final match at the UNYP Arena in Prague and took the lead with a goal by Natalia Hájková. But then it was only the favoured opponent who was on the forefront for a long time, with Charlotte Gerstenhöfer scoring twice. Only in the last minute Veronika Przybíková corrected the result. „We can be proud of ourselves that we made it to the final. It's the first time in history, the gold would be the icing on the cake. It is disappointing because we believed in them, we worked until the last minute, but unfortunately, the Germans know how to play and they know how to convert chances,“ Hájková told Czech Television.
In the tournament, the Czech team defeated Lithuania (6:2) and Ukraine (5:4) in Group B, drew with the defending silver medalists from Poland (3:3) and lost to Spain (3:5). From the second place, they advanced to the semi-finals, where they overturned a two-goal deficit against the undefeated Group A winner Austria with last-minute goals. In the shootout, the Czechs completed the turnaround and celebrated their first ever qualification to the European Championship finals with a 3:2 victory.
ČTK/ceskenoviny.cz/gnews.cz-jav
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