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Showing posts from December, 2019

EHF 2020 Men - Conflicting schedules

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We are under a fortnight away from the Men's European Handball Championships and it felt so eerie when I saw last night the Hispanos getting ready for the preparatory tournament as they dare to defend the title won in Croatia.  I usually keep my items ready for use in a couple of days. That will not be happening this year.  My coverage will be unusual this year. Very challenging, very sad. Away from the actual event. Unsure on many levels what will be happening. I know that my travel to Mannheim with USAM days after shall not be taking place either as the game is now moved to a late Sunday kick-off. Would like to provide my gratitude to institutions and fans from Norway, Austria and Sweden  so that they make the experience for handball fans from any country including France, Hungary, Spain and Germany thoroughly safe, enjoyable and thrilling.  Dear players I will be missing you.  Dear media I will be missing you.  Dear fellow fans I will be missing you. Dear officials

JAPAN 19 FINAL - Hearing familiar voices

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Hearing Paul on the IHF streaming is really odd and funny at the same time.  Final being streamed live Early start and 3-1 to Spain. Cabral with a great steal. Devastating. AUPA GUERRERAS  Mireia manages two in the space of a minute. One easy followed a huge extension. Her mother must be over the moon.  It is 5-2 on 5 minutes. Defence is key, as a first attack Monumental Sylvia in goal. She is such a sweet inspiration. It is 7-4 on 8 minutes. Cabral miss may be costly but thank God Sylvia saves the day. Redeemed herself Alexandra and the score-line is 8-5 on 10 minutes played Nerea gets her penalty. Inexplicably it is 9-8 on 15 minutes. Efficiency in attack not as clear cut Never under-estimate and quitar errores por favor. 9-9 on 16 minutes. It is very quiet over the last five minutes.  The French twin refs are not in trouble. Poor block so penalised and Spanish goal cancelled. Cesareo grabbing a suspension. Ironically suddenly three suspensions within seconds. Seco

Missing Japan dearly

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Las Guerreras are playing their first world championship final vs the Netherlands and I am not with them. VAYA LASTIMA. AUPA GUERRERAS in an hour time live from Tokyo. On Teledeporte or IHF TV? It reminds me the moment when I saw one of Carlos Viver team member in Salamanca  just over a year ago.... Amazing. The redundancy drew me into cancelling all the projects because I am unable to concentrate on my handball passion unless I have a stable job or professional task to support the financial costs or expenses. The alternative is to work as a journalist or a reporter in the industry but like politics it is very demanding and time consuming. And I missed a lot of opportunities.  I am lucky though not to have a family to look after, which provides some flexibility, but with Brexit I am now conscious that London could get even more detached from the world of handball. Japan was looked at carefully because it is also the Olympics location in 2020. The rugby world cup remind

EHF Dilemma

I asked about the match tickets for Cuenca and RNL away but no answers as of yet. I also mentioned the photography but no answers either. I will have to call again the SAP Arena and RNL ticketing team on Monday or as early as possible because I am not able to read the info details in German as RNL provides a special mechanism for the 3 group home matches. And soon flight prices will increase and the hotel I saw will be sold out. I got paid so monies is not an issue as pressing.  EHF Cup 2019/20 Group B Phase   Rhein-Neckar Löwen Has many prominent players I have met through my international travels and reports Liberbank Cuenca Never visited this town nor necessarily know any of their players. Surprised they did so well last year in the ASOBAL USAM Nimes Gard TTH Holstebro  Where in Denmark? I did not know that club. Understand that like USAM it used to be a driving force when I was a teenager playing handball.  Now with Brexit travelling overseas will have a differ