China, Handball | Sondre (23) was shocked at handball training in China: – Took out the smoke

Recently, Norwegian Sondre Knudsen moved to China, specifically Shanghai, for six months on exchange as a law student.

The 25-year-old is in the final year of his education, and has been hunting for a new experience for the past six months.

In his luggage, he had a desire to explore the Chinese handball culture. Sport is a big part of Sondre’s life in Norway.

– The only thing I had prepared before I went away there was the possibility of playing some handball.

The Norwegian referees the 1st division for women, while at the same time he has played at a decent level in the Norwegian league system himself.

He therefore had a desire to maintain as much of his handball form as possible, despite six months on the other side of the globe.

It would turn out to be more difficult than expected.

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Found a club

Knutsen says that he spent more time finding a club than he did finding a place to live in Shanghai. Something that you may be a little surprised by when you hear the outcome of the hunt:

– I started with a Google search, and finally found a list with a few different teams and sent out a number of emails.

He finally caught up with the Shanghai Gang Handball Team. The team came in a respectable 3rd place in the Shanghai Handball League last season.

– They were excited that I should come to training. I asked when it was, and only got the answer: “we never have training, only matches”.

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The message made him wonder a little about what he was expecting.

– I talked to my girlfriend about what expectations I could have. Because it can be a bit either or, as the sport is so small. But this was really an amateur group that didn’t seem to take it very seriously, he says and laughs.

But it was a training match, because the season doesn’t start until April.

– What was it that met you?

– I took a taxi to an address I was sent. There, a group of waltzes came to meet us, with lots of kids in tow. Then everyone took a taxi, where I was thrown into the back seat with these kids. It was 40 minutes by car before we arrived at a very nice facility, with a proper handball court.

Got cigarette shock

He got further indications of the level that awaited, when his teammates needed a few extra minutes outside the hall before the game.

– I had to go in early, because the whole team had to have a smoke before kick-off. The same applied during the break. There was also no warm-up, so this was by no means a top sport.

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At times it was so hard for him that he feared for his own health.

– After all, they practiced both rules and playing style from a long time ago. You got scared on your own behalf, when they started going after your throwing arm and put in some real tackles. It was not allowed to try a “double frog” either, because “there were separate rules in China”.

Chinese handball is currently suffering from a broken back. In 1984, the women’s national team secured a shocking Olympic bronze in Los Angeles, but since then it has been significantly tougher. The team finished in 29th place in last year’s WC.

The men’s national team is a bit worse off, having not played a World Cup since 1999. In the Asian Championships in January, the Chinese finished 10th out of the 16 countries that took part.

The contrast is therefore great to what Knutsen is used to from his own homeland.

– Are you going to try and find another club?

– They came third in the league last season, so I actually don’t think it will get much better. I just have to make the best of it, concludes the handball referee.