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Irina Bliznova penetrates opposing defenses on a regular basis and gets fouled a lot. Against S Korea on day 1 she was fouled fairly hard and started to relax and recover a bit on the floor, but then chose to get back on her feet quickly. Why? I’m thinking the new rules had something to do with it.

The International Handball Federation (IHF) has recently added 5 new rule changes and the Olympics is the first major event to see them implemented.  And, while at its core the game remains the same these rule changes are having an impact.  The ability to now substitute any court player for the goalie has resulted in goalies being pulled even more.  Why, it’s practically standard practice for some teams when they are a man down.  We’ve even seen a few instances of 7 court players being used on offense.

The rule change requiring injured players to exit for three possessions has also sped up the game.  Irina Bliznova went down after being hit fairly hard during Russia’s comeback vs S. Korea.  But, it wasn’t a 2 minute and when it looked like the refs might call for medical protection she hopped to her feet quickly.  With Russia’s offense really relying on her steady play in the backcourt she didn’t want to nurse her minor injury on the sideline for a couple of minutes.

There’s a lot of nuance to these rule changes, and who better to explain and discuss their potential impact then Christer Ahl, the former IHF head for Playing Rules and Competition.  In part 1 of this podcast Christer highlights the overall intentions behind these rules and we delve into the details of the new rules as they relate to goalkeepers and injured players.

Summary of new rules: Link