North Holland handball player Lars Kooij started as a reserve player at the European Handball Championship, but due to the serious injury of fellow player Samir Benghanem, he started the last matches of the European Championship.
“An unexpected European Championship. I expected to play ten minutes per match, but Samir’s injury changed that,” said Kooij. In the narrowly lost match against Sweden (29-28), Benghanem suffered a serious knee injury
“Samir leaves a big hole and I tried to fill it as best I could. You are then thrown into the deep end and you have to show it. I was a little nervous. You are playing against the best players in the world. I went with the flow and things went well.”
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Future
The 23-year-old handball player plays for the German TV Emsdetten in the 3rd Bundesliga. After the good European Championships, he hopes to have attracted the attention of other teams. “I have a number of agreements, but you don’t know whether anything will actually come of it. The only thing I can say is that the interest comes from clubs higher than the 3rd Bundesliga.”
He will resume competition in Germany from February 3.