Sporting Triumphs Lift Bosnian Spirits

Hundreds of Bosnians gathered in Sarajevo on Monday to greet the handball national team, which qualified for a major tournament for the first time since independence in a playoff win against Iceland.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina handball team will play in the World Championships in Qatar in 2015 after a nerve-racking one point aggregate win against Iceland.

The coach of the handball national team, Dragan Markovic, said the win was for the entire country.

“I am so very proud. We beat an extremely mighty team, and we did it on their home turf. This is for all of us. For everyone,” Markovic said.

The win came a day after Bosnia's national football team acquitted itself creditably in its very first World Cup game with Argentina.

Bosnia lost 2-1 at the match on Sunday in Brazil - but the Bosnian team's spirited performance - scoring their only goal withing minutes of the end - had the Brazilian audience in the stands cheering themselves hoarse.

The fact that Argentina is tipped as a possible winner of the World Cup explains why some saw Bosnia's narrow defeat as a moral victory. Bosnia's hopes of remaining in the Cupnow depend on the outcome of the match with Nigeria on Thursday.