In the quarter-finals of the 26th World Championship, Montenegrin handball players were defeated by Denmark 26:24.
Itana Grbić was surprised by the exclusion she received with less than three minutes to go, which solved the question of the winner.
"It is very difficult to find the words. For the first time, I was excluded because of rejoicing, as if we didn't come to play handball, but to the theater. But we cannot influence that. We have to go with our heads held high, because we showed that we are a better team than Denmark, which has two of the same lineups, with players in top clubs".
The "lioness" center back played only in attack and could see her teammates struggling in front of their goal.
"I admire the girls for what they did in defense. It was wonderful to watch Tanja Brnović and Ana Popović play her from the bench, who has this role for the first time, and it changes Đina Jauković. Denmark won not because it was better, but thanks to the judges".
Tatjana Brnović fought big battles with Denmark's halves, but could not force exclusions.
"I talked to the referees, I told them that I understand what their criteria are, that they let us be hit, and that we get warnings when we don't touch anyone. They only got sent off in the 50th minute, and they awarded us penalties when they thought the match was over. However, they could not break our system and spirit, I am proud of the team".
The brilliant pivot believes that the "lionesses" have a bright future ahead of them.
"Now some girls were playing who were also there last year, but they had totally different roles. They were phenomenal, I wouldn't single out any of them. I have the impression that each of them is mature enough to take responsibility and to do great things together," said Brnović.
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