Infuriating? Certainly. This Handball World Cup in Poland and Sweden that the Blues started perfectly in the preliminary round (three wins in three games), Dika Mem is not yet the big player, remained on the bench in the last two games because of an abdominal contracture. He is chomping at the bit, the right winger of the France team, and crosses his fingers for the start of the preliminary round, Wednesday January 18 against Montenegro.
Because his time has come, and he would see himself very punctual at the rendezvous. A year ago, at the start of the Euro that the Blues were going to finish in fourth place, he said he was not “not yet mature”. Twelve months later, his teammate Nedim Remili can say: “Right now, he’s the best player in the world. »
That’s good: Dika Mem is ready to become the boss at a time when Nikola Karabatic, 38 and his suitcase already heavy with ten Worlds (including 4 titles), wants to gradually give up the costume. “The responsibilities, I assume”, so don’t hesitate to let go of Dika Mem. In the almost perfect world of the Blues, this is called transmission, which has always been ensured for thirty years. There is no reason for this to stop. At 25, Dika Mem is programmed to take up the challenge.
handball by chance
His story, however, is unique. Handball fell on him a bit by chance. In his large blended family, with six brothers and sisters, the two eldest, 6 and 7 years older, also play sports, but with a much bigger orange ball: they are basketball pros. And like all the kids at the foot of the cities of his town of Eaubonne (Val-d’Oise), Dika would rather be football. But at 13, he accompanies a friend to the departmental handball selections, and, well, to see, he participates.
Those responsible for detection find many qualities in this boy, and offer him to join. Well, handball, Dika does not find it terrible, but he is proud to be spotted. So bank. The rocket has just taken off. The next step is a very high-speed orbit. At 15, the hopefuls pole, at 18 a first professional contract at Tremblay-en-France (Seine-Saint-Denis), and a year and a half later, a solicitation from the big club Barcelona. The hesitation is not very long.
He signed in July 2016, multiplied his salary by twelve. Three months later, it is the first selection in Blue. He was not selected for the World Cup in France in 2017, but an ankle injury to Luka Karabatic earned him a last-minute call-up. And badaboum, world champion.
Did you say fast? Too much perhaps? Adapting to the Catalan club, where the competition is severe and the pace of life very different than in his youth, incubated by his grandmother Marceline who raised him in a cocoon, is a risk and he knows it. . But in Barcelona, about twenty kilometers from the city center and near the sea, he takes his marks quietly, supported by the Blues of the club, Timothey N’Guessan and especially Cédric Sorhaindo, quadruple world champion and gold medalist. in London in 2012, who willingly plays the big brother.
“Mark the history” of his sport
Dika Mem is not really the type to disperse. Hard worker, perfectionist, with always a desire to learn that his close relations underline. Its windows on the outside give rather on the virtual world. Fashion, social networks, video games. With the latter, the one who hides online behind the nickname Dikson95, would even come close to addiction without the constraints of the field.
But he thus finds his balance, progresses in Barcelona to impose himself largely for two years. He is not for nothing in the two European championship titles won by the club in 2021 and 2022. Now vice-captain of the team, he is the Catalan master of the game. Even more open to others. Video games occupy him less. The hatching of a star? “Honestly, I don’t dwell too much on what is said about me”he assures.
But he repeats wanting ” Mark history “ of his sport. It’s said without boasting, in an even tone, as always. If he is world champion again, he will probably write it somewhere on his body. Tattooed all over. On his chest, stars for his parents and his grandmother, the names of his brothers and sisters on both arms, on the left the neighborhood of his childhood, to never forget where he comes from. ” This is my story “, he summarizes. Already busy, but just getting started.
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An extended World Cup
After three victories in the first round of this World Cup against Poland (26-24), Saudi Arabia (41-23) and Slovenia (35-31), the Blues have a mattress of four points to tackle the main round in Group 1 of six teams.
The Blues are due to play on Wednesday January 18 against Montenegro, then on January 20 against Iran, and on January 22 against Spain. If they are in the top two of this group’s standings after their three matches, they will qualify for the quarter-finals on January 25.
The objective is to finish in the lead, just to secure a “comfortable” quarter-final, for example against the Netherlands and Serbia, a priori less hard to play than Germany or Norway. The road to the title is still long in this extended World Cup.