Croatia put one foot into the quarter-finals of the men's handball competition after a comfortable 31-23 victory over Serbia in the Copper Box this afternoon.
Having won their first Group B encounter against South Korea on Sunday, 'Cowboys' began with confidence and set themselves up for victory with four successive goals to lead 5-2 after 12 minutes.
Serbia, who were beaten by Spain in their opening game, were never able to claw back the deficit and trailed 13-9 at the break.
Two-time gold medallists Croatia, enjoyed the best of it in the second half as well and made the most of some excellent defending to score an impressive nine fast breaks.
Ivan Cupic inspired the win, repeating his tally of eight goals from the opening match, while Marko Vujin was Serbia's most prolific player with six goals.
Croatia move onto four points to top Group B, while Serbia are yet to register a point.
Croatia: Cupic 8, Vori 5, Strlek 5, Duvnjak 4, Lackovic 4, Horvat 2, Balic 1, Kopljar 1, Gojun 1.
Serbia: Vujin 6, Vuckovic 5, Rnic 4, Manojlovic 2, Toskic 2, Stankovic 2, Nikcevic 1, Prodanovic 1.
Referees: Vaclav Horacek, Czech Republic; Jiri Novotny, Czech Republic
