Handball: why Covid will still rot at the start of the World Cup

They thought, hoped to get rid of him. 24 months ago, the FIFA World Cup in Egypt was held behind closed doors. A year ago, the virus spoiled the euro in Hungary with positive cases and drastic lockdowns in hotel rooms for all delegations. France paid a high price for this. But the 28th World Handball Championship (from January 11 to 29), which takes place in Poland and Sweden, is again under the sign of Covid. The IHF, an international federation, still puts terrible conditions on all teams.

To start the World Cup, everyone (players and staff) must present a negative PCR test, whether they are vaccinated or not. The Blues took tests before boarding the plane on Monday morning and they are all negative. Then all of them will be regularly tested throughout the competition. In the event of a symptom and a positive PCR, the patient will have to spend 5 days in isolation in their hotel room. In this case, it is a guarantee to miss the full round or the knockout matches from the quarter-finals.

It is clear that Covid will derail the tournament, especially since no preventive measures are being taken. No sanitary bubble is planned, the teams are accommodated in hotels open to anonymous clients, without mandatory masks. As the virus spreads, avoiding it will be a matter of performance: “It is unfathomable to be the only sport that stands out from others in life where we have gone beyond the protocols and restrictions,” Guillaume Gilles, coach of the Blues, is indignant. We have to go through the front door to test negative in order to be able to start this global campaign. We know we are not in a bubble and not in the Covid protocol. Proof: I’m talking to you a few centimeters away when you’re not wearing a mask, and so am I. »

“I regret that the IHF did not hear the general call to change the protocol”

A year ago, the coach, who tested positive himself, stayed in his room for long days, like Valentin Porte and Kentin Mahe. “Without putting the fact of a negative PCR test as the only criterion, we will have to deploy – and not just at home – positive cases that will spoil the competition and annoy our daily life,” Gille infuriates. Common sense is to practice medicine. People who are sick or have symptoms, we don’t force them to exercise or play. And we keep moving forward. I regret that the IHF did not hear the general call to change the protocol. »

The Blues are especially sorry that all disciplines do not fit in one boat: “We want to wash more whites than whites, and I see no reason why the coach of Olympic champions is still harassing. During the month and a half of the World Cup in Qatar, we talked only about football. I have never heard the words “Covid” or “PCR test”. Instead, he jokes, we just mentioned the “air conditioner virus” you know, that virus well known to doctors that needs drastic isolation. “We take the hint… For the coach of the Olympic champions, this “air conditioning virus” that hit the French at the end of the tournament could very well be Covid.