Hapoel Ashdod Hands First League Loss to Reigning Champion Ramat Hasharon

In a significant upset in the third round of the Winner Handball League, Hapoel Ashdod defeated the reigning champions, A.S. Ramat Hasharon, with a decisive score of 33:25. This victory marks Ashdod's second win of the season and inflicts the first league defeat on Ramat Hasharon, who were without the injured Milan Pavlovic.

Ramat Hasharon started strong, taking an early 3-0 lead, but Ashdod quickly responded. By the 17th minute, Ashdod had leveled the score at 4-4 and then took an 8-10 lead. From that point on, Ashdod dominated, extending their lead to 9-15 by the 20th minute and finishing the first half with a three-goal advantage at 15:18.

In the second half, Ashdod continued their strong performance, widening the gap to 16:22 and later to 21:29 with eight minutes remaining. Despite some late efforts by Ramat Hasharon, Ashdod secured the comfortable 33:25 win. Orush Todorovich and Or Maman led Ashdod with six goals each, while Michailo Radoykovic was the top scorer for Ramat Hasharon with eight goals.

In other matches, Maccabi Tel Aviv suffered a 37:30 loss to M.K. Holon, who maintained their perfect record. Hapoel Tel Aviv secured their second win of the season, defeating Ironi Rehovot 37:26. Maccabi Tel Aviv remains perfect with a 41:27 victory over Nes Ziona, and M.K. Beer Sheva achieved their first win of the season, beating Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin 29:26.

Bnei Herzliya secured a dramatic 30:29 victory over Hapoel Kiryat Ono, who is still searching for their first points of the season. Niv Tzuraf was the standout player for Herzliya with 14 goals, but it was a late miss by Kiryat Ono that sealed the win for Herzliya.