Slovenia, whose national team captain is the Swedish legend Ljubomir Vranjes, was beaten to win yesterday's match against the host country Egypt, in order to go to the quarterfinals.
However, it was "only" a draw (25-25).
And the preparations for the match were anything but optimal.
Within 24 hours of the match, no less than twelve of the team's players became food poisoned, one of whom (Blaz Blagostinek) disappeared as late as the warm-up.
- This only further proves the weak organization that this championship has had.
In fact, we had huge health problems the night before and during the match day, says Cvijic on the Slovenian Handball Federation's website, and later adds:
- We can absolutely not be happy with the organization during this year's World Cup in Egypt.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health contacted us after the match, but we do not expect any significant changes as long as the International Handball Federation (IHF) works the way they do now.
"Screamed with pain"
On the Slovenian association's website, they describe how sick the players became.
"The boys screamed in pain, vomited and ran to the toilets as if their lives were in danger", it says in the article, where it appears that Blaz Blagostinek was one of the worst affected.
"Just before the match, our strongest defensive shadow Blaz Blagostinek collapsed in the locker room from the pain of his own vomit attacks and was transported back to the locker room.
No less than nine players decided to line up for themselves and for the team - even though they were not feeling well - so that we could make it to the quarter finals ".
Slovenia is not the only team to suffer from stomach ailments during the championship.
Sweden is another team that did it, then it was about Fredric Pettersson.