Hendrik Pekeler is finally drawing a line under his career in the German national handball team. The pivot from record champion THW Kiel will be officially farewelled on Saturday after the European Championship dress rehearsal of the DHB selection against Portugal.
The German Handball Association (DHB) announced this in the Arena magazine for the duel with the Iberians on Saturday (6 p.m., in the live stream at sportschau.de), which is already available in digital form. Pekeler played 122 international matches. The circular runner, who comes from Itzehoe in Schleswig-Holstein, became European champion with the national team in 2016 and won bronze at the Olympics in Rio in the same year.
“Well, we discussed it differently, I have to say. But that’s just the way it is.”
— National coach Alfred Gislason
The 32-year-old had already canceled his participation in the home European Championship, which began in a few days, last October, citing his long injury break. “Peke,” as he is called, was out for months due to a torn Achilles tendon and heel surgery.
Gislason surprised by resignation
Despite his rejection from the European Championships, national coach Alfred Gislason (“A world-class player like Hendrik Pekeler is good for every national team”) was still hoping that the THW professional would continue his career in the DHB uniform.
Now Pekeler’s decision seemed to have hit him without warning: “I don’t know anything about it, it passed me by,” said the Icelander dryly after the 34:33 in the penultimate European Championship endurance test against Portugal. Pekeler had previously commented in the “Kieler Nachrichten”: “I didn’t want my name to be brought up again and again in the media and for Alfred to get his hopes up.”
Pekeler sees “enough alternatives” in the district
With the official farewell on Saturday after Germany’s game against Portugal in Kiel, “somehow a chapter” ends for him. Pekeler explained that he had “many wonderful years” in the national team.
The 32-year-old does not believe that the DHB selection could have a problem in the district as a result of his final resignation: “We have enough alternatives in the position with players like Johannes Golla, Jannik Kohlbacher and now also Justus Fischer. It’s not always necessary my name again.”
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Schleswig-Holstein Magazine | 01/04/2024 | 19:30 o’clock
