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Bugojno (AP) - The German handball players have successfully started their warm-up program for the Olympic Games.

The team of national coach Alfred Gislason prevailed with 26:24 (15:15) in Bosnia-Herzegovina and won the 19th consecutive victory in the European Championship qualification.

The DHB selection had already secured the ticket for the European Championship 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia, which is why Gislason was already using the game to play for the summer games in Tokyo.

The best thrower of the German team was left winger Marcel Schiller with ten goals.

For the time being, the last Olympic recommendation can be given by the wobbly candidates in the German squad on May 2nd (6:00 p.m. / Sport1), when the DHB selection will still meet Estonia at the end of the European Championship qualification in Stuttgart.

Like the Bosnians, the Estonians are not among the first guard in the international handball world, but Gislason's team struggled for long stretches.

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For fear of new corona infections, the DHB selection landed only a few hours before the game in Sarajevo, shortly after the final whistle, the charter plane was supposed to take off again for home. Nevertheless, it went well at least at the beginning of the first round, although Gislason was experimenting in the back area and relied on Fabian Wiede, Juri Knorr and Sebastian Heymann. "Then we lost the thread a bit," said DHB sports director Axel Kromer during the break. Germany was behind for the first time in the 26th minute (12:13).

For the Bosnians, everything was still at stake, namely an EM ticket, and that's how the hosts performed. From a German point of view, things got a little better, at least in the short term, when playmaker Philipp Weber, who represented the injured Uwe Gensheimer as captain, came into play. But neither Weber nor the veterans Steffen Weinhold and Julius Kühn brought stability to the backcourt. As a result, Bosnia-Herzegovina kept the game open for a long time, also thanks to the strong Bundesliga goalkeeper Benjamin Buric from SG Flensburg-Handewitt.

However, hardly any of the German players submitted a letter of application for the only 14 permanent Olympic squad places.

The longest strong Gensheimer representative Schiller was most likely to convince on the left wing, and youngster Juri Knorr also set accents.

But the race for the Tokyo tickets remains close.

Against Estonia, Jannik Kohlbacher and Fabian Böhm, who were not nominated this time, will be able to show themselves among others.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210429-99-406741 / 3

The German group in the European Championship qualification

Squad of German handball players

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Game schedule of the German handball players

Presidium of the German Handball Federation

Board of the German Handball Federation