Covid-19 Troubles Ahead of European Handball Championship, EHF Shortens Isolation to 5 Days with Two Negative Tests

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Coronavirus has caused headaches for handball national teams ahead of the European Championship starting on January 13. The BiH national team returned from Croatia to Sarajevo on Wednesday because some handball players tested positive on antigen tests. Benjamin Burić's PCR test was confirmed positive today.

As announced on the FB page of the BiH handball national team, the EHF is changing rules for the European Championship due to coronavirus.

The European Handball Championship starts on January 13, and Handball-Planet reports that the EHF will change the 14-day isolation rule to isolation after a positive test and two consecutive negative tests. Thus, according to the new rule, a player will be eligible to play in the Euro after 5 days of isolation and two consecutive negative tests.

The decision has not yet been officially confirmed, but it is expected to be, as the leaders of the European Handball Federation are forced to change something to maintain the regularity of the competition and the quality of the national teams.

The BiH handball players are in a group with Sweden, Spain, and the Czech Republic at the European Championship, and it remains to be seen how they will use the remaining seven days until the start of the Euro for preparations.

This is the second time Burić has been infected with coronavirus; he already had Covid in January last year.

At this moment, it is unknown if he will be available for the Euro, as he needs two negative tests to play, five days before the first match of the EP.

"I have no symptoms and I hope to be negative soon, so I can join the rest of the team. All national teams have the same problems, as you can see, and no one has been spared. I just hope to be ready to play in the Euro, together with my teammates, so we can represent Bosnia and Herzegovina in the best possible light. This has disrupted our preparations, but we will have to give more than our best to present ourselves as well as possible at the European Championship," said Burić.