Polish handball players began their participation in the European Championships played in Slovakia and Hungary with a 36:31 victory against Austria.
Before the start of the European Championships, Polish handball players had to struggle with many problems. First, coach Patrick Rombel dropped seven handball players from the lineup – including primary goalkeeper Adam Morawski. All were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, although the tests performed by the organizers raised some doubts, and the Polish handball association even filed a protest about it.
In Bratislava, it also turned out that the organizers had a problem with providing adequate training conditions, but Rombel did not lose faith in success.
“We’ve had a flurry of problems over the last three days, but they’re over. It’s over for us and now it has to start for the Austrians”, the coach called on his players before the game.
The red-and-white team reacted positively to these words and although their rivals took a two-goal lead at the beginning of the game after Fabian Posch’s shot, the Poles quickly took control over the events on the field. Michał Daszek, Szymon Sićko and Przemysław Krajewski showed off with good actions. Our handball players did well in defense, they were also very effective (74% of successful shots in the first half) and went to the break with a three-goal lead.
On Sunday (20:30) awaits the red-whites another meeting at the European Men’s Handball Championship. This time the rival will be Belarus. At the end of this phase of the tournament, the Poles will face Germany. The top two teams from each group will advance to the second round.
Austria – Poland 31:36 (14:17)