Joan Canellas (Santa Maria de Palautordera, 37 years old) He claims to face his last European Championship. In the Swiss Kadetten for three years, he has not stopped winning medals with the national team – nine since 2011 – in the most successful decade of Spanish handball. A last-minute injury denied him Olympic bronze in Tokyo. It is inevitable to have the Paris Olympic Games in our sights, although Cañellas prefers to enjoy the moment and focus on the European Championship, where Spain defends silver. Before making his debut this Friday against Croatia (8:30 p.m., Tdp), he answers this newspaper by telephone.
What feelings do you come to the European Championship with?
The sensations are good. The rivals we have had this year in preparation are important rivals (Poland, Slovakia and Serbia) and the team has played well, organized in attack and defense. We think we can be optimistic, and this is sometimes dangerous. We have to go step by step and see how everything turns out. We have done a good job and the team is doing well. From there, things can always happen.
They debut this Friday against Croatia, the toughest rival in this first phase.
We are very aware that This match can mark the rest of the competition. We are playing against a great rival, who has traditionally always made things very complicated for us, and we need all the points to advance to the next phase with more options, because in the second phase very powerful rivals await us like France or Germany, who play in home. We are aware that the game may not go the way we want. If we lost against Croatia it would be very complicated for us, although we would still have options.
Only Jorge Maqueda and you remain from that gold at the 2013 World Cup in Barcelona. Eight medals since then in this great decade for the national team.
I would extend it a few more years, this goes beyond this decade. I have been coming to the national team for 16 years and we started fighting for medals a long time ago. You have to be aware that sometimes you don’t win a medal, but you are there. From winning to losing it goes very little, so you have to value the fact of competing, and we have been competing well for many years. We always remember selections like France or Denmark, which are the ones that have won the most titles in recent years, but we are there, even with more regularity, and that must be valued.
How do you achieve something like that?
When I started in the national team they had just won an Olympic bronze. We received a legacy from other players who also did very well and were successful. It is true that the generation of this last decade has had more continuity, we have achieved many successes and we have reached many semifinals, which is very complicated. A series of factors have come together, the right players, with the right mentality, the coach… Things have been done well for many years, and that has meant that we are always there fighting.
“The more success you have had, the more difficult it is to repeat it. There will be some year where things will not work out and the world will not end”
Many people already assume that they will fight for medals year after year.
This is so. The more success you have had, the more difficult it is to repeat it, and it is clear that people get used to it and the day you do not win or achieve the same successes will seem like a disaster. From inside We know what it costs to achieve all this, and there will be some year where things will not work out and the world will not end. In this European Championship we will try to do our best and we will fight to make it go well.
They arrive as continental runners-up, but are not among the favorites. Does it motivate you to almost never be among the favorites?
It is not something that keeps us up at night. So far it has gone well for us. Maybe they never give us as winners, but one way or another We are always there fighting for medals, And that is the most important.
Does the fact that it is an Olympic Games year make the tournament more complicated?
This means that many powerful teams are still fighting for qualify for the Pre-Olympic, there is a lot at stake in this European Championship and they will go one point higher. Luckily, we are already classified for the Pre-Olympic. The direct place to Paris that is given in this European Championship is a very big temptation, a great objective that is very difficult and that practically means winning the European Championship. It would be a mistake to start the championship thinking about that, there is a lot of work to do. Little by little.
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On a personal level, what role do you hope to play in this selection?
Every year it changes a little due to age. During the preparation I felt good. I know my body and how it works, and experience tells me that I get there well, without suffering too much from anything. I hope to contribute on the court beyond experience, which is something that is already assumed. On an individual level, the last few years have been very positive and I have ended up very satisfied, I want to end this year in the same way.
It was hard for you not to be able to be in Tokyo due to an injury. Do you want to close the circle fighting for a medal in Paris?
Obviously, it was a hard moment. Any athlete wants to be in the Olympic Games and win medals, and my experience at the Games is not the best. In 2012, we missed the semi-finals due to a last-second goal, we were unlucky not to qualify for Rio and I personally wasn’t in Tokyo. Being able to aspire to be in Paris is something very nice, but after everything I have experienced I think it is important not to focus on what may come and enjoy what I have now: a European that will surely be the last for me. I want to have a good time, help the team and the competition will tell where we are going. The Games are very far away right now.
The successes of the national team still have no impact on the handball Spanish. Young people continue to have to go play outside of Spain.
Yes, and it will continue to be that way for years to come. You don’t have to be very smart to see that the Asobal league is not good. The professional league label can be a positive thing, but there is really a long way to go, not just to go back to the way it was before, but for all the teams to be professional, so that the salaries are decent enough so that they do not have to combine it with work or studies. … The day that the young people do not leave and the majority of the team is part of the Asobal will mean that we will have a competitive league again. This is not the case today, nor will it be in the short term. We have to continue fighting so that, at the very least, if the image of the national team can help the clubs in some sense, then so be it.
What would have to happen to reverse the situation?
Phew. Many things that I don’t think will happen in the short term. What would surely help the most is if a football club opted for a handball section. But experience tells us that handball is not profitable for these clubs. Clubs have to be made profitable in some way, and to keep players from leaving, teams would have to increase their budget. More actions are needed at all levels to make the product more attractive and sell it better. I think that handball, in general, is liked.
2024-01-12 06:25:14
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