Estonian handball league opens with a dress rehearsal for Europe

The men's Estonian handball league starts Tuesday with Tallinna Mistra hosting HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper at Raasiku Sports Hall. A day later, Põlva Serviti will play HC Viimsi/Alexela, while Viljandi HC/Leonhard Weiss hosts SK Tapa.

Mistra lost last season's league final to Põlva Serviti, but enters the new campaign after winning two preseason tournaments. The opening match also serves as preparation for the weekend, when Mistra will face Kosovo club KH Vellaznimi twice in the opening round of European competition.

“An official match of a good standard is useful before an important weekend,” Mistra player Arno Vare said. He added that the team was in generally good shape after a long period of work. Finland national-team goalkeeper Mikael Mäkela joined during the offseason, while several young players, as well as Karl Roosna and Rasmus Ots, left for Viljandi.

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An official match of a good standard is useful before an important weekend.

Vare expects a difficult match against Kehra. Although Kehra lost all four league meetings with Mistra last season, the games remained close, with an average margin of only two goals. Horizon, which focuses largely on developing new players, has added several young athletes to its squad.

Serviti, fresh from winning the Super Cup, will host Viimsi. Viljandi, which lost the Super Cup final, will welcome Tapa. SK Tapa has appointed Kaspar Lees as full-time coach after he partly held the role last season. “We have to do our things well and hopefully we learned something from the video analyses,” Lees said. “We will go out to fight everyone and will not let anyone run over us.”

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We have to do our things well and hopefully we learned something from the video analyses. We will go out to fight everyone and will not let anyone run over us.