January 1, 2022 will forever be engraved in the memory of PSG handball player and the French team Elohim Prandi. And for good reason, that day, he quite simply almost lost his life. While celebrating the New Year with a few friends, he was violently attacked and stabbed six times in the back, not far from the Champs-Elysées. Now out of danger (and in the sports recovery phase) despite a vital prognosis, Prandi returned to this dramatic evening with our colleagues from Parisian.
“I was with two very close friends and my mother at a private party at someone I know very well. On a misunderstanding and because of an overturned bottle of water, I was attacked by a group of people, he says. I’m not someone who looks for trouble but I had to defend myself. All of a sudden, I don’t know what went through a guy’s head, but he came and stabbed me six times in the rib cage in the back. I was taken care of by the emergencies with the vital prognosis engaged. »
“I saw myself leaving”
When journalists ask him if he was afraid of dying, the French international explains that he was “more afraid of leaving [sa] family than [se] see go. “I saw my mother by my bedside 24 hours a day and I didn’t want to leave her. Seeing her like this was the hardest part, it hurt me a lot. Once or twice, yes, I felt like I was leaving for real, he adds. At the very beginning, I sometimes didn’t want to close my eyes to sleep, for fear of never opening them again. I said to one of my best friends: that’s it, it’s time, I’m going to leave. But I’m only 23, I want to build a family, win titles with my club. I have a temperament to take everything for fun but not there. »
Followed by a therapist, Elohim Prandi feels “more peaceful, more confident”. And ready to set out again to attack his goals in club and selection. Especially since he was supposed to join the France team on January 2 as part of the Euro handball (elimination in the semi-final against Sweden). If he also admits to having feared for his place in Blue in the long term, the Parisian rear-left assures him: “The places are expensive but I want to say that you can count on me. I am ready to compete and I will not leave again. I have the feeling of arriving in the professional world rediscovering all the pleasure of a beginner. »