Despite holding a 12:11 lead at halftime, Bosnia fell to Austria 21:23 this afternoon to earn its' first loss in a Handball World Champioship.
The game overall was sloppy from both sides, with the final result reflecting this as it was a low scoring affair. In the end, it ended up being a goalkeeper battle that decided things, with a fantastic effort from Austrian keeper Nikola Marinovic besting Bosnia's Benjamin Buric's 10 saves.
Bosnia came out relatively slow in the beginning of the game, with both teams trading goals for the most part of the first half. Despite a slow start, the Bosnians led by one goal at halftime thanks to several 7 meter penalties and a sloppy start from the Austrians.
However, unlike yesterday against Iran, Bosnia did not come out with authority into the second half. They dropped 5 straight after being tied 14:14, so with 15 minutes left in the game the Bosnians were down 14:19.
Despite a valiant effort during the last 5 minutes of the game where Bosnia scored a flurry of goals along a sleeping Austrian defense, the deficit ended up being too large to overcome.
Bosnia now sit firmly in 4th place in their group, tied in points with Austria but losing the tie-break due to dropping today's game. Bosnia will play Macedonia on Monday in what will be a key game if Dragan Markovic's men hope to go far in the tournament.