January 12, 2021 - Coach Lino Cervar has announced the final Croatia handball player list of 20 players who will travel to Egypt for the World Handball Championships.
The best news is that Igor Karačić is on the list, who was previously dropped due to recovery from injury, reports HRS.
"The players did their best, and of course everyone would like to play in the World Champs, but we had to choose 20. I have to praise the players for their attitude towards the national team, but we already have two wings in that position, and Lovro Mihić understood that it was a logical decision. Šime Ivić has been called up several times and is always in the national team, but we already have two left-handers. At this moment, when we have Cindrić and Karačić, who did not train at full strength today, as well as Duvnjak, who is exhausted, we had to give priority. They have, of course, contributed to our work. Igor Karačić is going with us, he works under a special program, and I think that in the end, when needed, he will do his best," said Červar after the list was published.
Croatia will play against Qatar, Angola, and Japan in the first round of the World Championships. The top three teams from each group go further. Croatia wants to reach the maximum number of points (4) in the first round, as they transfer to the second round. Croatia's first match is on January 15 at 6 pm Croatian time (7 pm local time) against Japan. Two days later, at the same time, Croatia will meet Angola, and on January 19, again at 6 pm, Qatar awaits her.
Due to the coronavirus, the World Handball Federation (IHF) allowed each national team 20 players to compete in Egypt. The World Championships are played in Alexandria. Croatia will leave today by charter from Zagreb.
The World Championships in Egypt will be Croatia's 14th. Croatia has not missed a single World Championship since it became independent, and thus won one gold medal (2003), three silver (1995, 2005, 2009), and one bronze (2013). The bronze medal from Spain from eight years ago is the last Croatian medal at the World Championships.
There is a strong motive for this generation to end this dry spell. Croatia is in seventh place together with Denmark when looking at total medals won. France leads with six world titles, one silver, and four bronze. Croatia has played 111 matches at the World Championships so far and has 82 wins, 4 draws, and 25 losses.
Final Croatia List:
MARIN ŠEGO – MONTPELLIER HB
IVAN PEŠIĆ – MC MESHKOV BREST
MATE ŠUNJIĆ – US IVRY HANDBALL
IVAN ČUPIĆ – RK VARDAR 1961
ZLATKO HORVAT – RK METALURG SKOPJE
MANUEL ŠTRLEK – TELEKOM VESZPREM HC
DAVID MANDIĆ – RK PPD ZAGREB
ŽELJKO MUSA – SC MAGDEBURG
MARINO MARIĆ – MT MELSUNGEN
ILIJA BROZOVIĆ–TSV HANNOVER-BURGDORF
MARIN ŠIPIĆ – RK PPD ZAGREB
LUKA CINDRIĆ–BARCA
DOMAGOJ DUVNJAK–THW KIEL
JANKO KEVIĆ–RK NEXE
IGOR KARAČIĆ -LOMZA VIVE KIELCE
MARKO MAMIĆ–SCDHFK LEIPZIG
HALIL JAGANJAC–RK NEXE
JOSIP ŠARAC – RK CELJE PIVOVARNA LAŠKO
IVAN MARTINOVIĆ–HCHANNOVER-BURGDORF
LUKA ŠEBETIĆ–TREMBLAY EN FRANCE HANDBALL
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