The Israeli team held a training match today (Friday) in which they defeated MK Holon 31:35. This meeting was part of the team’s preparations for the two games that will be played against Lithuania (on Tuesday at Heichal Shlomo in Tel Aviv and on Sunday in Vilnius). After that, the team will face Iceland (on Thursday in Tel Aviv) as part of the European Championship qualifiers.
It should be noted that coaches Oleg Botenko and Assaf Levy are waiting for the arrival of Daniel Musindi and Snir Nazia, who are due to arrive today from Germany, and Dan Tepper and Lior Gorman, who will arrive on Monday from France. The squad includes 26 players, and the coaches will of course have to sift through and distribute forces in a very intense week of games and flights.
Last night, it was received an important message from the European Union, which decided to still hold the European Under-19 Championships in August in Croatia. As you may recall, the European Under-18 Championship, which was scheduled to take place last summer, was canceled by the European Union (along with the European Under-20 Championship for reserve teams). At the end of last month, the World Union also decided to cancel World Under-21 and Under-21 Championship Games. , Which were scheduled to take place in the summer in Greece and Hungary (the qualifying tournament was scheduled to take place next week in Israel).
The championship will be held from August 12 to 22 in Croatia, and the innings from the previous canceled championship have been saved and Israel will play in the second house with Sweden, Spain and Hungary. The final ranking in the tournament will determine whether the young teams will remain at the top level in Europe, meaning they will participate in the European Youth and Reserve Championships in 2022. The handball association even before the official decision was announced, asked to host the championship, but its original location did not change. The youth team under the guidance of Dvir Goldstein and Nissim Pelach is expected to go out next weekend for the preparatory games in Serbia against the local team.
