Tonight’s international match against Denmark has been canceled:
The international match in handball between Denmark and Norway has been postponed due to the uncertainty surrounding the corona infection in the Danish team. This is confirmed by the Handball Association.
– The decision is made on the basis of consequences, it will have if the match contributes to the spread of which, says commercial manager Jan-Erik Aalbu in the Norwegian Handball Association in a press release.
The settlement was to be a warm-up match for the European Championships, and was to be wasted in Hillerød near Copenhagen. So far, only the Danish goalkeeper Jannick Green has been infected.
– It is far from optimal. This is done for fear of infection, since Danes have a positive case. It will be a safety consideration, but sportingly it is not good, says TV 2’s handball expert Bent Svele.
Norway’s EC squad
Goalkeepers
Kristian Sæverås, Sander Drange Heieren, Torbjørn Sittrup Bergerud
Back players
Vetle Eck Aga, Sander Sagosen, Sander A. Øverjordet, Erik Thorsteinsen Toft, Kent Robin Tønnesen, Christian O`Sullivan, Simen Holand Pettersen, Harald Reinkind, Christoffer Rambo,
Edge players
Sebastian Barthold, Kristian Bjørnsen, Kevin Maagerø Gulliksen, Alexander C. Blonz,
Line players
Petter Øverby, Magnus Gullerud, Thomas Alfred Solstad
If the coronavirus does not put a stop to it, Denmark and Norway must meet in a final transit before leaving for the European Championships. It runs on Saturday TV 2 Sport 2 from 15.45.
– The goal is still to play that match. Before that time, we have some extra days with hopefully negative tests of both teams’ players, says Aalbu.
The Danes react
Norway has canceled the match. The Danes are not satisfied with that decision, which the Norwegians believe is overreacting.
– We have had a case of infection, and Norway is worried that it may be others, says sports director of the Danish Handball Association Morten Henriksen to Danish TV 2.
The cancellation has created irritation in the Danish camp, which is missing out on a witty warm-up match.
– I am very angry about the time the decision was made. I received the message at 22.50 on Wednesday, says Henriksen.
– We have done everything we could to create a safe framework by tightening security and testing. It is always a risk, and Norway has felt it was too great, he adds.
Norway’s national team manager Christian Berge considers the risk to be higher than the gain.
– We were very eager to play also on Thursday, because it would give us good and important matching. Nevertheless, we consider the consequences to be too great if cases of infection occur, says Berge.
January 13 starts the European Championships which are held in Slovakia and Hungary. Norway starts against Slovakia, and also meets Russia and Lithuania in the group stage. In the European Championships at home two years ago, the handball boys took bronze.
Uncertainty among the EC teams
Norway should actually have wasted the Golden League in France with France, Denmark and Egypt. It was canceled due to the French corona rules. France’s replacement meetings with Egypt were also canceled.
I add a number of other matches canceled. Most teams have been affected by the run-up program.
Sportingly, it is the same for both teams, and you do not lose as much as most others have been affected, says Svele.
However, there has been complete confusion about what the corona rules are. It is rumored that a player will only be allowed to enter the European Championships 14 days after proven infection.
– It is uncertain about this. Swedes have claimed that they have been told that these are the rules, says Svele.
Late decision
Then sent as Wednesday it looked like the match was going to be played. On January 3, it became known that the Danish goalkeeper Jannick Green was diagnosed with corona and was isolated from the Danish squad. The Danes take PCR tests every day and everyone had tested negative until Wednesday, according to TV 2’s information.
– WE have had a conversation about the danger of playing training match. They have tests afterwards and are negative. Then we will record that conversation tonight and then we will see, Christian Berge told TV 2.
– It is an ongoing assessment?
– You have to do it when there are some cases. As there are now plans to complete the match tomorrow (Thursday), said the national team manager.
Many cancellations
With just over a week left until the European Handball Championship kicks off for the men, it has hailed corona cases among several of the teams.
Infection has been detected in players in the squad to Sweden, Denmark, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, France, Portugal and the Czech Republic, among others. Croatia’s two biggest stars, Domogoj Duvnjak and Luka Cindric, have also tested positive.
It has belonged to a number of cancellations due to the coronavirus. The Yellow Cup in Switzerland with Switzerland Montenegro Portugal and Ukraine, as well as Serbia-Germany, Slovenia-Italy, Iceland-Lithuania and Northern Macedonia-Israel have all had to be canceled.