Hosts Serbia booked their place in the final of the men’s European Championships after seeing off Greece 13-7 to edge closer to retaining their title.

In front of a packed Kombank Arena, the Serbian team, who are also the defending world champions, edged a close opening quarter 4-3 and then pulled away in the final stanzas.

In the final, scheduled for tomorrow evening, Serbia will meet Montenegro, who beat Hungary 8-5 in yesterday’s second semi-final.

With the winners of the tournament gaining a spot at this summer’s Rio Olympics, Montenegro have also secured a place at the Games as Serbia had already qualified thanks to their world triumph in 2014.

Dusko Pijetlovic and Filip Filipovic bagged a hat-trick for Serbia who will be confident of defending the title they won in Budapest in 2014.

“I think the Greeks are one of the best-prepared teams in these championships.

“They play very well, so I want to thank my team for making the final,” Serbian player Stefan Mitrovic said.

“We need a rest now before starting our preparations for the big game on Saturday (tomorrow) and hopefully we can finish off the job in front of our fans.”

Meanwhile, Malta will make their final showing in the championships this morning at 9 when they face Turkey in a play-off to avoid bottom spot.

Karl Izzo’s men are still in search of their maiden win in their first appearance in the continental championships and will do everything they can to break their duck after six straight defeats against stronger opponents.

“Our main goal is to try and win our last match but it will not be easy,” coach Izzo said.

“Turkey have more experience than us but what I can promise is that our players will do their utmost to end the tournament on a high.”

Results

Positional play-offs: Turkey vs Georgia 11-12; France vs Netherlands 11-8; Croatia vs Italy 6-8. Semi-final: Montenegro vs Hungary 8-5.

Playing today

15th/16th play-off: 9am Malta vs Turkey. 13th/14th play-off: 10.30am Slovakia vs Georgia.

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