Dimitris Dimitroulias,the coach who lead Greek team Diomidis Argos to win last year's Challenge Cup was keen to talk to Handball Galore about this year's Men's World Championship.
Thank you Dimitris for your time.
What do you think could be the highlights of the upcoming World Championship?
"The World cup is a trophy that sounds so sweet to every sportsman's ears. “There will be blood” for whoever is gonna be the conqueror . The host country is one of my favorites because it combines very warm,passionate people with deep understanding of the meaning of team sport!!It is gonna be so exciting, I can’t wait to be there for the finals!!"
Who are your favourite teams for the final?
"To me, the absolute favorite of this WC is gonna be Spain. It is not only the tournament host country, but for what I have seen until now, Spain has been developing their game attitude rapidly and have a good plan to every gameline!!Of course I never underestimate the force of the French, the temperament of the Croats and the completeness of the Danish!!"
What team would you see as a possible surprise during the WC?
"Slovenia and Hungary are teams with a lot of classy players combined with much experience in top tournaments. On the other hand,I would love to see some surprises from so called underdogs,especially from South America. Brazil has been preparing for Rio 2016 and Argentina has a lot of potentials.Infact the Gladiatores got many players performing in European leagues.On Africa’s side, I would expect Tunisia to be really strong in the tournament."
Any specific players to keep an eye on?
"First I must say that it is a pity that Jicha, the world's best player to my opinion, is out of the World Championship.There will be so many top class players which makes it difficult to choose from. But I could make a “not so risky” prediction about:Nagy, Hansen, Karabatic, Sterbic, Lazarov ,Igropulo and Ilic.These guys are going to put their skills and vast experience onto the handball court and make it happens!!"
Where would you like to see the WC being hosted in the future?
"I would love to see a WC in my country, but I know that it is yet far to come. I suppose same goes for Italy, but, on the other side, this can be achieved by promoting handball on a large scale.
Greece hosted not long ago,a youth handball world championship with great success and gained a lot of new supporters. Italy and Greece are strategically important countries for European and world handball. So if the sport in the two nations will improve,handball will become globally more popular and attractive to sponsorships and media oulets.
I hope in the future we will have a chance to see also such a big tournament in our countries."
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