The German national team missed out on a medal at the 2024 European Handball Championships. Bob Hanning praises the atmosphere at the home tournament, but does not exude great euphoria regarding the sporting performance.
“The atmosphere in the arenas was great. In terms of atmosphere and organization, the tournament was a perfect A,” wrote Hanning in his “Bild” column.
The former vice president of the German Handball Association, however, was not particularly enthusiastic about the sporting achievements.
“For many people, the focus is on the pure experience rather than the result,” said Hanning: “With the two defeats on the final weekend, we lost our direct ticket to the Olympics. If we, as the largest handball association in the world “If we’re happy with fourth place at the home tournament, I can only shake my head.”
The German national team lost to Denmark 26:29 in the semi-finals despite a strong first half. The game for third place was lost 31:34 against Sweden.
School grade 4 for Germany’s handball players
Hanning highlighted the defensive work as positive. “It was world class at times,” praised the handball official. In addition, “some players have grown beyond themselves.” In this context, Hanning chose backcourt player Renars Uscins as an example.
“I would have liked more play here and there for the second row and less criticism of them,” complained Hanning. The 55-year-old gave the DHB selection “a school grade of 4 from a (performance) sporting perspective.”
“The bottom line is four wins, four defeats and one draw. If you subtract the home advantage, there isn’t much left. With all due respect: celebrating a win against North Macedonia is legitimate. But in principle it’s like Bayern Munich’s footballers winning against Cottbus.” , Hanning analyzed.
“Since fourth place at the 2019 home World Cup, we have now been using the narrative that we want to get closer to the top in the world. It’s about time – but I’m optimistic,” he said: “If we have the breadth of our squad, that’s it is much better than is often suggested, use it a little better now and make it our strength, then we can not only achieve organizational records at the home tournament in three years, but also win the title.”