Paul Drux has a lot behind him in terms of injuries – the knees, the feet, the shoulders, almost everything was already affected by the 28-year-old professional from Füchse Berlin, who has also been holding the bones for the German Handball Federation (DHB) since 2014. The backcourt player had survived the past few months largely unscathed and played into a form that had contributed to the foxes fighting for the championship with THW Kiel.
But since a fatal step backwards when trying to catch the ball, Drux will only be able to follow the title race from the outside: On Thursday evening, the Berliner tore his right Achilles tendon in the 34th minute of the international match in Sweden. The diagnosis was made during the game in Kristianstad, which the DHB team lost 23:32. “It is extremely bitter to lose Paul in the long term,” said national coach Alfred Gislason, “it overshadows the game and I feel very sorry for him.”
“It hurts my heart”
Drux traveled back to Berlin with the team on Friday and was further examined at the Charité. His teammates meet Spain in the EHF Euro Cup on Sunday (3:35 p.m. on ARD). Drux is likely to be out for about half a year. His absence also causes difficulties for the foxes, since their captain is one who always leads the way.
Managing director Bob Hanning thought first of his player himself when he said: “This is a tragedy for Paul. It hurts my heart.” Captain Johannes Golla confirmed that his colleagues were shocked after the step, the scream and the diagnosis: “Of course, when a player is injured so badly, their heads are down.”
The next setback: national coach Alfred Gislason
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Image: dpa
What was supposed to be a different performance than the last time in the heavy defeats against Denmark ended in a sad evening in terms of sport. Already at 3:8 in the 14th minute Gislason shook his head on the sidelines, at 8:16 before the break there were signs of a debacle. “I’m not happy at all with what we offered. We acted with far too little pressure from the back,” said Gislason.
His team threw away the balls up front and rarely stood as close together as they needed to. Only debutant Renars Uscins provided some light moments in the middle of the second half (19:23, 47th), before the mistakes piled up again and the Scandinavians walked to victory. Germany showed an indisputable shooting efficiency of less than 30 percent (24 misses) and conceded the fifth defeat in the fifth game of the competition.
“We should have the right not to leave the tournament without a win,” said Golla before the Spain game. He looked just as crushed as everyone else after that black Thursday in southern Sweden.
