The old guard of Hispanics seeks the Olympic ticket | Sports

The Spanish coach, Jordi Ribera, addresses the players in training in Granollers.JLRECIO

Starting this Thursday in Granollers, in the warmth of home, the men’s handball team seeks the Olympic ticket for Paris 2024. On paper, the entity of the rivals (Bahrain, Slovenia and Brazil) does not force any feat for the team as a whole. Jordi Ribera, who, yes, must straighten his figure after the disappointing European Championship last January. The 13th place obtained in Germany was the worst result in a major championship since the 2009 World Cup. In between, 10 medals in 17 possible tournaments built the image of a team with credit. “Certain things from the past serve as a shock and impulse. “People are ready,” the coach said this Wednesday.

Two passes are distributed for this summer’s big event and the Hispanics debut against Bahrain (6:30 p.m., Teledeporte), which arrives weakened after the International Federation harshly punished five players for unsportsmanlike conduct during the incidents against Japan in the semifinal of the Asian Championship. The only two confrontations ended with a Spanish victory; the last, 23-33 in the 2019 World Cup.

On Friday (9:00 p.m.), Jordi Ribera’s team will face the most complicated match, against the Slovenia of Jure Dolenec, Dean Bombac, Blaz Janc, Miha Zarabec and Blaz Balgotinsek. In the last European Championship, she was sixth. The last two duels, in the 2020 European Championship and the 2023 World Cup, also ended with a Spanish victory. Both teams are the big favorites to qualify. And on Sunday (5:45 p.m.), Brazil, Jordi Ribera’s national team, although that was eight years ago. The two previous commitments will mark the relevance of the last day.

After the mess in the continental tournament and given the nature of a pre-Olympic tournament of three matches in four days and without a net, the Spanish coach has formed a list dominated by seniority. Regarding the European Championship in January, Antonio García (40) came in for Jan Gurri (21), Rodrigo Corrales (33) relieved Sergey Hernández (28) who had played his first major tournament in the front row, and Viran Morros (40 ) replaced the injured Miguel Sánchez-Migallón (29). Above all, the accumulation of years and experience in the defensive pair stands out, a return to the origins with Morros and Gedeón Guardiola (39). “It is a tournament of great responsibility and experience is always an important point to know how to deal with the tension of what is at stake,” justified Ribera, who also does not have the injured Kaudi Odriozola.

There is no place for tests, experiments or untested young people in the high national team competition. The stimulating Cikusa brothers are still waiting. More than half of those summoned are over 30 years old, seven of them are 35 or older, and there is even room for two in their forties (Morros and García). On Sunday there will be no intermediate result: ticket to Paris or monumental disappointment.

The reliability exhibited in recent decades and a group of rivals that does not cause tremors fuel optimism, although the unexpected setback at the European Championship and the traumatic memory of the 2016 pre-Olympic tournament (eliminated by one goal) invite caution. Since Montreal 76, the men’s handball team has only missed the Olympic event once, in Rio 2016. An absence that martyred a generation, which did not stop until competing in another Games, in Tokyo, where it won the bronze. In history there are three other third places: in Atlanta 96, Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.

In Granollers, the old guard of Hispanics rows to chase an Olympic ticket that is considered obligatory. From April 11 to 14, in Torrevieja, it will be the turn of the women’s team, which will face the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Argentina. A challenge, a priori, more crude.

The 19 summoned from Spain

Goalkeepers: Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas (33 years old, Barcelona) and Rodrigo Corrales (33, Veszprem)

Central: Augustine Married (27, Veszprem) and Ian Tarrafeta (25, Aix County)

Right backsAlex Dujshebaev (31, Kielce), Jorge Maqueda (36, Nantes) and Imanol Garciandia (28, Pick Szeged)

Left backs: Joan Cañellas (37, Kadetten), Dani Dujshebaev (26, Kielce) and Antonio García (40, Granollers)

Right wingers: Aleix Gómez (26, Barcelona) and Ferrán Solé (31, PSG).

left wingers: Ángel Fernández (35, Limoges) and Dani Fernández (22, Stuttgart)

Pivots: Adrià Figueras (35, Chartres), Abel Serdio (29, Wisla Plock), Gedeón Guardiola (39, Nava) and Javi Rodríguez (21, Barcelona)

defensive specialist: Viran Morros (40, Scout Winterthur)

The other two pre-Olympics

Germany, Algeria, Croatia and Austria. In Hannover (Germany)

Norway, Portugal, Hungary and Tunisia. In Tatabanya (Hungary)

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