Handball: DHB Sports Director wants to hold Prokop

DHB sports director Axel Kromer wants to continue working with the ailing national coach Christian Prokop.

“We would like to continue with him and hope that the analysis will not yield any other results,”said the 41-year-old to the “Schwäbisches Tagblatt”.

DHB vice-president Bob Hanning had announced a four- to six-month review of the national team in Croatia’s European Championship Main Round, at the end of which a decision on Prokop’s future is to be made.

“The analysis is still on a piece of paper that, of course, no one gives out publicly,”Kromer said. After the European Championship, a lot of internal disagreements had been reported.

The fact that Prokop defensive chief Finn Lemke had not initially been nominated for the title bouts was blamed on the coach, as were some tactical decisions. Kromer denied the rumors about the alleged cancellation of the training before the decisive match for the semi-finals against Spain:”I was there, that’s 100 percent wrong.

However, Kromer doesn’t understand that there has been much public criticism of Prokop, especially from the HBL:”Everyone has the number of the national coach or myself and can contact me directly instead of searching for the way via the public,”said Kromer.

Managing director Axel Geerken and trainer Michael Roth from MT Melsungen criticized the national coach in particular. In an interview with the trade magazine Handballwoche, Prokop described it as “overwhelmed” and “burned”.

Prokop himself complained about his handling of him after the EM-Stop “The cutting off allows the criticism. But what has happened over the last ten days has not always been human,”said Prokop on Friday before the HBL’s Allstar Game at Sky Sport News HD.

“I would like to continue this task, I trust me to do so, but I have to be honest: After the last ten days and the European Championship appearance, it is no longer in my hands,”said the 39-year-old. Prokop also holds the media jointly responsible for the hustle and bustle of the past few days:”I hope that there is no preconceived opinion in people’s minds as a result of media pressure”.