Sport Sweden’s tragic end
Protest hopeless – France made a wrong decision in the final of the European Handball Championship
As of: 12:14 a.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
The scene from the European Handball Championship: Elohim Prandi scores 27:27 past the Swedish wall
Those: dpa/Federico Gambarini
Sweden’s handball players were already in the European Championship final before France received a free throw at the end of the playing time. Elohim Prandi converted illegally, but the referees recognized the goal for extra time. Now the defending champion lodged a protest.
Defending champion Sweden has protested against the 30:34 defeat in the semi-finals of the European Handball Championship against France. The European Handball Federation confirmed this on Friday evening. A decision was still pending. The protest is directed against the French goal to make it 27:27. Elohim Prandi scored a direct free throw at the end of regular time and thus saved the French into extra time.
However, the objection is to be understood as more of a symbolic act; it is not considered to have any real chances of success. In handball, the factual decisions of the referees are considered almost sacrosanct.
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This was preceded by a dramatic semi-final with 34:30 (27:27, 17:11) after extra time and will play for gold on Sunday against the winner of the duel between world champions Denmark and European Championship hosts Germany.
After a balanced start, the record world champion from France went on a 7-0 run from 3-4 to 10-4. In this phase, the Swedes were unable to score for almost nine minutes because they were repeatedly denied by the strong French goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene from the German record champions THW Kiel.
A guarantee: France’s team around goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene remains unbeaten at the European Championships
Source: dpa/Tom Weller
Palicka as a fair loser
The Scandinavians, who won their fifth European Championship title two years ago, initially chased this deficit in vain. France controlled the action and, thanks to a stable defense, never allowed the record champions to get closer than four goals until the break.
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In attack, left winger Hugo Descat once again proved to be the most accurate shooter for the French, who defeated the German team in the preliminary round, with eight goals. Felix Claar (8) from Champions League winner SC Magdeburg was the best thrower for the Swedes, who gained new hope after the change. After a 7-1 run, the game was suddenly open again at 18:18 (40th).
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Now it was a duel of equals in which Sweden’s goalkeeper Andreas Palicka became more and more of a factor. The 37-year-old, who previously played for THW Kiel and Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the Bundesliga for a long time, fended off 15 throws from the French.
At the end of regular time, Sweden thought they were already in the final at 27:26, but there was still a direct free throw for France. Elohim Prandi converted it when he threw his throw to the side of the set up block. The fact that he took a step and his foot no longer touched the hall floor at the moment of the throw was against the rules, but the referees did not punish him.
The left foot has long since left the ground: France’s Elohim Prandi gained an advantage to throw past the wall
Source: dpa/Tom Weller
“I have experienced so much in handball. But scenes like this make handball so unpredictable. And that’s why we love him so much,” said Palicka, whose team never recovered from the shock and quickly fell behind in extra time.
