Israeli Handball League Opens With Dominant Wins and Close Contests

The Israeli Winner Handball League commenced its new season with a series of matches, featuring several one-sided results alongside a dramatic finish. Newly promoted teams Hapoel Arad and Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin both began their top-flight campaigns with losses. Arad, in its historic debut, fell 38:29 at home to Hapoel Rishon LeZion. The defending champions, AS Ramat Hasharon, started their title defense with a commanding 43:21 victory over Hapoel Kiryat Ono. Maccabi Holon continued its strong form, securing its fifth consecutive win across all competitions by defeating Maccabi Be'er Sheva 39:20.

In other notable games, Hapoel Ashdod secured a 32:27 home win against Maccabi Tel Aviv, avenging an earlier loss in the Winner Cup. The most dramatic match of the opening round saw Ironi Rehovot narrowly defeat Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin 32:31 in the final seconds. The league's promotion and relegation system was suspended for the season due to the ongoing "Operation Iron Swords."

Key individual performances included Itay Sorkis and Yonatan Pelach scoring 8 goals each for Rishon LeZion, while Svetsislav Verkić made 24 saves. For Ashdod, Uroš Todorović and Itay Suissa both scored 7 goals, with goalkeeper Svinnbjörn Pétursson making 12 saves. In Holon's dominant win, Nadav Cohen led the scoring with 10 goals, and goalkeeper Orr Knaani made 16 saves with a 62% save rate.

Filip Lovreć was the top scorer for Kiryat Motzkin with 11 goals in their close loss to Rehovot, while Stefan Damianović scored 10 for the winning side. The match between Maccabi Rishon LeZion and Bnei Herzliya was postponed to September 29th due to Maccabi Rishon LeZion's European commitments. A.C. Nes Ziona had a bye in the first round.