An EM as a “limit experience”
Corona continues to decimate the DHB team
1/24/2022 1:32 p.m
The German national handball team missed the semi-finals of the European Championship. Now it’s just a matter of somehow bringing the tournament to an end. The squad was almost completely replaced, numerous players have since been flown out. One more game and it’s done.
The corona chaos of the German handball players at the European Championship is never ending. After 13 corona cases in the team, national players Simon Ernst and Patrick Wiencek also received positive test results, as DHB sports director Axel Kromer said. “Unfortunately, we got bad news again this morning,” reported the 45-year-old from the team hotel in Bratislava. In addition to the defense specialists Ernst and Wiencek, a member of the delegation also tested positive. According to Kromer, they should all be largely symptom-free.
Before the final main round game on Tuesday (6 p.m. / ZDF and in the live ticker on ntv.de) against Russia, the German squad was once again decimated. With captain Johannes Golla, Lukas Zerbe, Philipp Weber and Julian Köster – subject to further positive tests – only four of the 18 national players who traveled to the first game were able to fully contest the European Championship. “Of course, this is a borderline experience for all of us, also individually. Nobody has experienced it like this before,” said Kromer.
How the virus got into the team is still a mystery to the DHB. Despite the new cases, no further players will be nominated for the tournament in Slovakia and Hungary, as Kromer said. Many of the players who originally tested positive have already returned home. Kai Häfner, Timo Kastening, Sebastian Heymann and Marcel Schiller followed in the morning. The DHB selection had missed the semi-finals at the European Championships and is playing their last tournament game against the Russians.
“Of course I had air problems”
It is still open whether, in view of the tense personnel situation, players who originally tested positive will also be used. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff or backcourt player Julius Kühn, who have also been isolated for days, are still in Slovakia. In order to be able to return to play, they must present two negative PCR tests after a quarantine of at least five days and receive medical clearance.
Backcourt player Hendrik Wagner was the first DHB player to celebrate his return to the tournament after a corona infection on Sunday evening in the defeat against Sweden. The second division professional of the Eulen Ludwigshafen complained about breathing problems after about ten minutes on the field. “Of course I had air problems, but that’s normal when you’ve been in the room for seven days,” said Wagner on Monday. “But I’m not worried because a doctor checked me out here, all values were great.”