Injured handball star raises the alarm
“No more went without painkillers”
Updated on February 25, 2025 – 1:40 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The extreme stress in top handball is becoming an ever bigger problem. The result: many injured professionals.
Bitter news for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen from the Handball Bundesliga: Backroom player Ivan Martinović fails for a long time due to a serious knee injury. An investigation on Monday showed that the 27-year-old was damaged in the 25: 36 defeat at VfL Gummersbach last Saturday.
“It takes a few weeks, my body needs peace now,” said the Croatian vice world champion of “Sport Bild”. Martinović had already played with pain at the tournament: “At some point it is just too much. At the end of the World Cup, I couldn’t do any painkillers.” At the World Cup at the beginning of this year he played nine games in 19 days. After the tournament, the league operations continued practically without a break. Now the bitter consequences are noticeable from too little regeneration time.
Löwen coach Sebastian Hinze said: “He will certainly not be able to do anything for four to six weeks. Then you have to see how long the construction phase takes and the healing process is.”
As early as January 2024, Martinović suffered a shoulder injury at the European Championship. Nevertheless, a few weeks later he was on the field for Croatia in the Olympic qualification and was in action during the actual summer break at the Olympic Games in Paris. Immediately afterwards, preparation in the club started for him.
In addition to the physical stress, Martinović also sees the mental side as a problem: “One is the physical component. But what many do not really consider is the mental side.” In any case, his injury should continue to heat the debate about the excessive burden in handball.