It was simply after 10 p.m., as the twenty eighth World Handball Championship in Stockholm drew to a ultimate climax. And Niklas Landin additionally ran ahead, extra exactly, he went to fulfill the president of the IHF World Federation, Hasan Mustafa. Because the 78-year-old clearly had bother carrying the practically 20-kilogram World Cup trophy – made from pure gold and studded with sapphires – to the new world champion. Thus, the captain of the Danish handball group took from him a 70-centimeter trophy depicting a hand holding a golden handball in the air.
The paintings is a present from the Emir of Qatar, value €800,000, and was modestly donated by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the 2015 World Cup in his nation. A little bit of enjoyable: the World Handball Championship is value a number of instances greater than soccer gamers.
None of that mattered to the 34-year-old Denmark captain and goalkeeper proper now, as Landin took the massive gold and raised it in entrance of his teammates seconds later. Denmark have gained their third straight world title, a feat no different group can declare. The Scandinavians are worthy champions of this World Cup held in Poland and Sweden: they misplaced just one level in the whole event – in a 32:32 draw with the Croatians in the preliminary spherical – and have been in the ultimate 34:29. Good group beat France.
Neither the burden of journey nor the appointment of referees can throw the Danes out of rhythm.
Even the indisputable fact that Denmark went to Gdansk for the semi-finals and returned to Stockholm for the ultimate, whereas the French stayed put, didn’t deter the Scandinavians. National coach Alfred Gislason additionally had bother on this uneven journey. His group needed to journey a day earlier than their quarter-final and first-place sport towards Egypt, whereas their respective opponents survived. The IHF desires to take the criticism critically, but it surely needs to be fascinating to see the way it performs out at the 2025 World Cup. Then there are the three hosts in Denmark, Norway and Croatia, who’re additionally contenders for the essential knockout video games on expertise.
Gift from the Emir of Qatar: World Cup gold medal.
(Photo: Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
The appointment of referees Giorgi Naczewski and Slav Nikolov was additionally criticized by the Danish neighborhood. When the World Cup began, the Danish TV channel reported on the firm sports activities radar has been printed, itemizing notable matches from 2016 and 2017, together with matches refereed by two North Macedonian contenders for the ultimate. After the examination, the European EHF Federation didn’t see any deviations and no must act, which has now additionally appealed to the world federation.
Apart from that, the Danes had little cause to complain, as a few choices went very nicely for the world champion when issues acquired tense once more at the begin of the second half of the ultimate. Of course, this shouldn’t be the cause for the defeat of the Olympic champion, the first cause was a reasonably weak sport of the goalkeeper.
Guaranteed win: Denmark goalkeeper Niklas Landin.
(Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa)
Because Vincent Gerard hardly caught the ball, the present world handball participant Landin once more confirmed a sport worthy of this title in the Danish objective. In this manner, the Danes have been in a position to rapidly rating as much as 5 targets (12:7). Nevertheless, the Olympic champion managed to scale back the rating to fifteen:16 earlier than halftime. A robust backcourt round two left-handers, Dika Mem and Nedim Remili, introduced the French again into the sport.
In the finish, the French protection discovered nothing towards the agile Danish forwards, with Mathias Gidsel, additionally the World Cup’s prime scorer, refueling – or Simon Pitlik scoring from the again. However, the most necessary consider the assault was Rasmus Lauge, who shouldn’t be actually one among the first defenders, however formed the sport with ten targets.
That’s the beauty of such a bunch of groups, they’re crammed twice in all positions, and by the means, this additionally applies to the French. That’s why it did not matter that the grand outdated males of world handball could not impress Denmark’s Mikkel Hansen and France’s Nikola Karabátić.
In this respect, each groups don’t have anything to concern, Gidsel is 23 years outdated, Pitlik is just 22 years outdated. France additionally has a number of top-class kids, Elohim Prandi, 24, Thibaut Briet, 23, injured and compelled to depart the area, or Dylan. 23-year-old Nahi was invited. Therefore, it may be assumed that these two groups will likely be at the prime of the desk at the European Championship in Germany.
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