A buzzer-beater by Ivan Martinovic spared Croatia’s blushes in their opening match of the Olympic tournament, claiming a 30:29 win over an impressive Japan side.
The win ensured coach Dagur Sigurdsson avoided defeat against a side he had left in February, following seven years together, to pastures new with a talented Croatian generation of players.
Japan looked on course to deliver the first major upset of the men’s tournament as a 5:0 run at the end of the first half saw then lead 18:13.
Missed opportunity
A steady start to the second half saw the Asian side hold a six-goal lead with just over a quarter of an hour left to play and with Daisuke Okomoto producing a wonderful double-save, it looked like it might be their lucky day. But Croatia suddenly caught fire with a five-goal run of their own in a blistering 200-second spell making full use of incisive counter-attacks and 7vs6 in attack.
From that point, it felt like a case of Japan needing to hold on to claim something from this contest and hold on they did for 59 minutes and 58 seconds.
They had the chance to take the lead in the final seconds, missing two shots on the bounce, before Croatia set up a game-winning opportunity, fired in from the back court with two seconds to spare.
Despair for Japan but early signs show that Antonio Carlos Ortega has this team firing on all cylinders and warning signs have been sent to the rest of group A.