Handball players and Corona
New anger about old worries at the World Cup
01/11/2023 1:36 p.m
The topic of corona is on the retreat in world sport, major events have long been taking place again on the verge of normality as it was known before the pandemic began. It’s different at the Handball World Championship. And that causes trouble.
When the Handball World Championship starts today, Wednesday, Corona will return to world sport with regulatory power: at the World Cup there were restrictions for players or fans, the ski jumpers were recently allowed to complete their Four Hills Tournament unimpressed by the pandemic, and also played darts the topic in the bulging “Ally Pally” does not matter. In handball, however, the pandemic is making its way again – for two and a half weeks in Poland and Sweden. Because the world association IHF is again imposing rules on the teams. And that causes trouble before the start.
On Monday, the news went through the agencies that the Handball World Cup produced the first Corona case with Mads Mensah Larsen. The Dane’s test was weakly positive two days before the start of the tournament, the backcourt star had to go into isolation. A second test two days later brought quick relief: Mensah Larsen is negative, the professional from SG Flensburg-Handewitt is allowed to train with the team again. For the reigning world champion, who only starts the tournament against Belgium on Friday, it remains a short, inconsequential shock for the time being.
“No one is afraid of Corona”
In the tightly scheduled tournament calendar, which provides for nine games every two days for the 2023 world champion until the final on January 29 in Stockholm, a possible incorrect test would become a problem. “No one is afraid of Corona, just of a failed test,” said Sweden’s assistant coach Michael Apelgren of the newspaper “Aftonbladet” and scolded: “It’s a damn shame when you play the World Cup at home and can’t live like we otherwise live in Sweden.”
In fact, there is no obligation to quarantine in everyday life in either Poland or Sweden, and there are no other restrictions either. For two weeks, on the other hand, rules will return, at least for handball professionals: The regulations of the International Handball Federation IHF for the World Cup also provide for tests before the start of the tournament, before the main round and the quarter-finals, in addition to vaccination or a recovered status. Positive tests should be followed by a quarantine period of at least five days before professionals can test themselves free.
“Handball is a dynamic and fast game with a lot of physical contact and therefore requires all players to be in excellent health,” writes the IHF. “Since asymptomatic carriers of the virus can also infect other players and participants, the planned tests are the most effective measure to prevent the spread of the virus and to keep everyone involved safe and healthy.”
The IHF is “aware of the fact that the proposed measures cannot be approved by all those involved”. The world association is absolutely right about this: “If the IHF wanted to implement these measures to protect the players, they achieved exactly the opposite,” Iceland goalkeeper Björgvin Pall Gustavsson complained in an open letter on Twitter and referred to the legal classification of the measures. The human rights of the players are curtailed by the rules, said Gustavsson. “The players are aware that they can end their quarantine themselves at any time and refuse to be tested,” it said. “And I think I speak for everyone. The corona trauma of the last tournaments is still very present among the players and affects the athletes, who are healthy as a horse, more than Corona.” Some players like world goalkeeper Niklas Landin from world champion Denmark shared the tweet.
Both the 2021 World Cup and the 2022 European Championship were strong – and largely unchallenged by the impact of the corona pandemic. Last January, the German team alone had to nominate so many players that the DHB delegation thought about withdrawing from the tournament. In the end, 36 German handball professionals gradually traveled to the EM venue in Bratislava, in the original delegation there were only 17. Worn out by the fluctuation, the team was eliminated in the intermediate round without a chance.
“I was surprised”
In the last test in Hanover, which the German team won against Iceland in front of more than 10,000 spectators at 33:31 (19:14), the nervousness surrounding the topic was evident. “As far as the spectators are concerned, there is enough distance and the players are asked not to seek contact with the spectators,” the IHF said.
While playmaker Juri Knorr patiently and with growing desperation signed hundreds of autographs in front of a wall of people, Andreas Wolff, who was celebrated after a tremendous performance, did fan work in a different way: “We’re not allowed to sign autographs, we’re happy to take photos,” the goalkeeper called out to the fans and also posed patiently – with a respectful safety distance. “I was surprised by that,” said Wolff, who has been playing for the Polish top team Kielce since 2019, about the requirements of the world association, “because Corona really doesn’t play a role in Poland anymore.”
Unlike the competitors from the north, the DHB does not want to put the issue too high either: “Maybe it will be readjusted. I don’t see the concept as particularly sharp either,” said sports director Axel Kromer in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. . “We will be able to move around normally like all other citizens in Sweden and Poland. Should there be corona infections, players will not have to stay alone in their rooms, as was the case in Bratislava. Isolation will only exist if symptoms there are.”
National coach Alfred Gislason, who has had to operate in crisis mode since taking office in 2020, has one wish: “I long for a normal tournament. It would be nice if all teams could play with complete teams this time and there would be no more corona alarms. Man had had calluses in my throat and throat for a while from testing several times a day. That was enough for life.”