Handball player Estavana Polman hopes to make her first match minutes during the training course of the Dutch team in Norway this week after her serious knee injury. At the end of the internship it will become clear whether she can go to the World Cup in Spain, which starts on December 1.
,,I’m really looking forward to this week’, says the Orange player. “Physically I feel good. The last tests have been good and the strength in my leg is back. This week I’m going to test the body and see how far I am. I can already say that it is definitely not going to be 100 percent. It is not yet certain whether I will come or not, so this will be a crucial week.”
Polman won the world title with the Dutch team almost two years ago. She was chosen as the best player of that World Cup in Japan. Six months later, Polman tore the cruciate ligament of her right knee. After months of rehabilitation, she returned to the Dutch selection at the beginning of this year, but in May she suffered another knee injury that required surgery. Polman therefore missed the Games in Tokyo.
,,I’ve been training hard for the past two weeks at my Danish club Esbjerg, but now I don’t have anything to do in the weight room. I now have to go out on the field to experience that impact of actually playing in the one-on-one situations again. I’m afraid of that, it’s still in my head, but I have to go through it to know how my knee reacts to it. Beat me for my chance, I’d say.”
Polman realizes that playing sixty minutes straight away is a utopia. ,,Even if it’s two minutes or five minutes, you have to start somewhere. We’re going to look at it day by day. I don’t know where I stand yet, but I should know that at the end of the internship. Then it is of course up to the national coach to judge whether she can benefit from me at the World Cup in Spain, but I also have to have a good feeling about it myself. It has to be right in my head to be able to play handball. If not, I’m not going.”
I’m not going to be the player I was at the last World Cup, but I really hope I can compete.
The team will play three exhibition games this week, against Norway, Russia and South Korea. After that triptych, national coach Monique Tijsterman decides which eighteen players she will take to Spain. ,,I’m not going to be the player I was at the last World Cup, but I really hope I can compete. Although that will be in a different role, more helpful in attack and tactical. I will have to bring out other qualities, but I certainly believe that with my experience I can be of value to the team,” said Polman.
Malestein misses a practice internship
Angela Malestein will miss the practice internship of the Dutch team in Norway this week. The experienced right corner player of Orange is ill, national coach Monique Tijsterman reported. ,,Angela has quite a cold and has a headache. We decided this morning that she will not come with us to Norway. I will not call up a replacement for her and hope that she will recover in time for the World Cup,” said Tijsterman, who also saw Merel Freriks drop out for the practice internship. Circle player Freriks has corona and is still in quarantine. Nikita van der Vliet has taken over her place in the selection.
The Orange squad will play for the Intersport Cup from November 25 to 28. The tournament is the final preparation for the World Cup in Spain. In Bergen, Norway, Tijsterman’s team will compete against the home country (November 25, 6:15 PM), Russia (November 27, 2:30 PM) and South Korea (November 28, 1.30 PM).
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.
#Estavana #Polman #ready #ultimate #test #beat #chance