Due to knee injury
Shock for Bozovic – veteran out for World Cup!
No way! Just Janko Bozovic, the last of the "old hands" in Austria's men's handball team, has been ruled out for the World Championships in Croatia. And this shortly before the start of the tournament against Kuwait, where the 39-year-old plays for the club himself. The 20-year-old Nicolas Paulnsteiner was nominated to replace him.
Kronen Zeitung als bevorzugte Google-Quelle hinzufügen First captain and top star Niko Bilyk is out due to a thigh injury - and now Janko Bozovic is also out. The 39-year-old veteran suffered an injury to his left knee in one of the last training sessions before the start of the World Championship. Austria's handball team was very worried. After an MRI scan on Tuesday, it was confirmed: a meniscus injury, meaning the 2.04-year-old's tournament is over even before the first match.
"That's a great pity! Now we hardly have any real shooters left," Kreis Tobias Wagner told the "Krone", alluding to Bozovic's dreaded shots from around nine or ten meters.
Sporting director Patrick Fölser also sighs: "The loss of Janko hurts, of course. We miss an experienced player who has 195 international caps, has seen almost everything in international handball and is a pillar of our national team. We wish him a good and speedy recovery." Doubly bitter for the right back: on Tuesday (20.30, live ORF Sport+) he would have faced Kuwait, the country where he himself plays for the club Al Khitan and lives in a hotel apartment. "It's a special duel," said Bozovic ahead of the tournament. "We also have to take this opponent very seriously."
Nicolas Paulnsteiner has already been called up in his position as a precaution, he is already in Porec and ready. After winning the championship with Linz, the 20-year-old has been playing in the German Bundesliga with 1. VfL Potsdam since the summer. The left-handed player is regarded as a great hope for the future, finished sixth with the national youth team at the 2024 European U20 Championships and is now able to present himself on the big A stage for the first time. "Nici has been under observation for a long time. He has already been invited to training sessions with the senior team and knows the players and the system. He should take the pressure off Boris Zivkovic in this position and of course make his own mark," says Fölser. "Even without Janko Bozovic, our goals for the World Cup remain unchanged. We want to start with a win and play a good tournament."
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