Dagur Sigurdsson, the coach of Japan's men's handball team, who managed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 36 years, suddenly announced his resignation this month, less than six months until the tournament will be held in Paris.
According to the Japan Handball Association, on the 3rd of this month, they received an email from coach Sigurdsson announcing his resignation as Japan national team coach, stating that he wanted to coach another country.
The contract with the coach was supposed to run until the end of August, which is after the Paris Olympics, but the association has determined that it would be difficult to retain the coach, so they have accepted his resignation and have already begun the process of selecting a successor.
The statement continued, ``This sudden request to cancel the contract just before the Olympics is unilateral and extremely regrettable.We will take care not to upset the athletes and will take appropriate action based on the contract.''
Coach Sigurdsson is originally from Iceland and has been coaching the Japan men's national team since February 2017.
He placed first in the Asian qualifying rounds for the Paris Olympics held last October, leading his team to participate in the Olympics for the first time in 36 years since 1988.
Regarding the departure of coach Sigurdsson, some overseas media have reported that he may be appointed as coach of the Croatian national team, which will be competing in the final world qualifying round for the Paris Olympics.