In an interview with the “jauns.lv” portal, Latvian handball star Dainis Krištopāns said that he does not currently see a place for himself in the national team. “I don’t see myself in the national team at the moment, but I don’t want to publicly announce that I won’t play anymore. I am a pro, still playing and plan to do so for several seasons. I followed the Latvian national team, I see that a new team has formed with a good microclimate and a different game concept. I’m afraid that I can only spoil something with my appearance. If I appear there, everyone will look at me – how to play the ball, how to finish the attack through me. Rather, I can bring bad than good there. If I am healthy, needed and see my usefulness, I can come and play, if only in defense. The second thing is health. It’s probably no secret that I have tendinitis in my knees,” says Kristopāns, who is currently playing in the German Bundesliga.
Kristopans did not deny that he wanted to play for the national team in December 2023, when the matches took place in his hometown of Ludza. “I really wanted to. For the first time in my life, something like this happened in Ludza. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. There were also various things outside of handball. I didn’t even get to come home,” he commented.
Together with Kristopanas, the Latvian handball team achieved the highest achievement – participation in the 2020 European Championship, where they lost all three games in the group stage and took 24th place. In recent years, the men’s national team has been coached by Davors Čutura, under whose leadership the national team lost in the first qualifying round of the European Championship, losing to Luxembourg in the pre-qualification.
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2024-01-26 16:50:41
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