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With surprisingly clear words, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff criticized the Corona-related World Cup cancellations by some handball national players and caused a sensation a few days before the DHB selection left for Egypt.
He sees it "very, very critically," said the 29-year-old on Thursday in a podcast by Bundesliga club Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
The regular keeper of the DHB selection shows particularly little understanding for the cancellations of his former Kiel teammates Hendrik Pekeler, Patrick Wiencek and Steffen Weinhold.
He could understand that today's players are concerned about their health and the like, said Wolff.
"Especially for family fathers, it is of course difficult to leave your children behind this month and not see them." But before that, the players did not mind being active in the Champions League with the THW Kiel and traveling to countries there, that have been classified as corona risk areas.
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"And now all of a sudden at the World Cup it is such a big problem, although the hygiene measures, the safety measures, are significantly higher than, for example, in international competitions," said the keeper of the Polish top club Vive Kielce.
"What bothers me even more about it is that their club colleagues don't seem to have that big a problem with going to the World Cup."
"A bit questionable"
When asked, Pekeler did not want to comment on Wolff's statements.
Like Wiencek and Weinhold, the 29-year-old had decided not to take part in the tournament from January 13th to 31st in Egypt for family reasons.
Other Kiel professionals, such as the Norwegian superstar Sander Sagosen, Denmark's world-class goalkeeper Niklas Landin or the former Croatian world handball player Domagoj Duvnjak, on the other hand, take part in the World Cup with their national teams.
Andreas Wolff (r.) At the 2019 World Cup with his teammates Hendrik Pekeler (l.) And Steffen Weinhold
Source: dpa
"Personally, I find it a bit questionable that only the German players worry about their own families and the foreign players apparently say: 'Oh, come on, I'll just leave my wife and children behind, they'll do it'", said Wolff, who is planned as the first goalkeeper in Egypt.
Although national coach Alfred Gislason always expressed understanding for the cancellations of the players, DHB President Andreas Michelmann had recently also critically questioned the behavior of the Kiel professionals.
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“We are probably the most sensitive handball nation in the world.
When I see that the Germans don't fly in Kiel, but the Danes, Croats and Slovenes do, it may also be due to people, "said Michelmann of" Sport-Bild ".
"In the end it is idle because the decisions have been made." The players who fly there deserve respect.
National coach Gislason not only has to do without Pekeler, Wiencek and Weinhold in Egypt, but also a number of other players due to injuries.
In addition to the three Kielers, only Finn Lemke had canceled due to the Corona crisis.
The defense specialist from MT Melsungen was infected with the virus in November and had some health problems afterwards.
So far, Gislason has dealt extremely calmly with the lack of numerous regular employees: "I take a pragmatic view: every loss is also an opportunity."