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Photo: MARTIN DIVISEK / EPA
The DHB team continues to compete at the European Championships in Hungary and Slovakia, but the German Handball Federation (DHB) wants to reassess the corona situation every day.
“The situation is very dynamic.
It may well be that we have to make a different decision tomorrow.
We will reassess the situation in each case," said DHB CEO Mark Schober late Wednesday evening.
At the same time, the association is having the conditions for withdrawing from the tournament checked by the European Handball Federation (EHF), the DHB said on Thursday night.
On Thursday evening (6 p.m. / ARD), the German team will meet defending champions Spain at the start of the main round.
Due to the high number of corona-related absences, the association has formally submitted an application for the game to be rescheduled.
On Wednesday evening, after three further corona cases in the team of national coach Alfred Gíslason, the DHB initially ruled out withdrawing from the EM in a crisis meeting with the Handball Bundesliga (HBL).
“It's quite a complex decision – we made it from a medical, sporting, legal and economic point of view.
This is what responsible action looks like,” Schober affirmed.
Twelve players are now affected by corona infections.
The DHB reacted to cases ten to twelve on Wednesday and nominated Lukas Stutzke, David Schmidt (both Bergischer HC) and Tobias Reichmann (MT Melsungen).
Julius Kühn, who had the first infection in the German team during the European Championship, is not yet an option to return.
The PCR test of the 2016 European champion on Wednesday was positive.
The remaining team should continue playing for the time being.
"We talked in the team about how we can continue the tournament and bring it to an end.
That is our clear goal, everything else was not our issue, "said DHB captain Johannes Golla: "Even if we are all at a distance - I have rarely experienced such cohesion as in the past few days."
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