Wasp scares DHB star Uščins against Austria

“Flying over from the Ally Pally”

Wasp scares DHB star at European Championship game

The German handball players celebrated a lackluster victory against Austria at the start of the European Championship. A scene that occurred during a break in the game caused a stir.

Renārs Uščins was briefly shocked: In the first group game of the European Handball Championship (30:27), it wasn’t the opponents from Austria that made the 23-year-old from Bundesliga club TSV Hannover-Burgdorf tremble briefly, but a wasp.

The animal suddenly settled on Uščin’s jersey during a timeout in the first half and somewhat disrupted national coach Alfred Gíslason’s team speech. Uščins first had to be made aware of the animal by teammate Juri Knorr. “I was a bit confused when Yuri suddenly said: Hey, watch out,” Uščins reported after the game. “I didn’t know what was going on.” It was Knorr who carefully removed the wasp from Uščin’s jersey.

Uščins had a theory about the animal’s origin: “The wasp probably flew over to us from the Ally Pally.” Background: At the Darts World Cup at the beginning of January in Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally for short) in London, a wasp hovered around the stage several times and disturbed the actors.

Now there was a similar incident at the European Handball Championships in Herning. “I hope she brings us luck,” said Uščins about the uninvited visitor. He wasn’t actually afraid of wasps, “but I was scared for a moment,” he admitted frankly.

In any case, the incident did not harm the Germans’ performance. In the end, the DHB selection won lackluster, but largely unscathed, 30:27. Uščins himself even contributed four goals to the opening success in the second half. The German team will next face Serbia in Group A on Saturday. At the end of the preliminary round they will face Spain next Monday.