“What’s that?” says Dutch right wing Angela Malestein to IHF.info when shown the number ‘4:49:26’ written down on a piece of paper. She is then informed this is the second highest amount of court time played by a Dutch player behind goalkeeper Tess Wester.

“Oh really? I did not know that,” she says with a smile on her face. “I have played much, but I don’t feel like I have played that much, I don’t get a strange feeling.”

IHF.info spoke with the 22-year-old ahead of Netherlands facing Poland in the first Denmark 2015 semi-final to talk about that game, their tournament so far and Dutch handball.

IHF.info: How does it feel to play so much handball in such a short amount of time?

Angela Malestein: I am feeling great, but everybody in the team is the same, no-one is more special than anyone else, I feel normal.

Recovery for me and listening to your body is really important, the food which I eat, but when the game starts I only think about handball I only want to win, only after the match I feel tired and pain in the body, but we have two physios with us so it’s OK – I have been using them a lot.

At a handball tournament there a lot of games but it is what it is, you just don’t think about it when the games start.

IHF.info: How did you get involved with handball?

Angela Malestein: I started handball because my sister played it. I did gymnastics first, but then the club didn’t exist anymore so I didn’t have a sport but then I started playing handball at eight years old because the school had handball tournaments, I liked it really much.

When I did gymnastics I was really stretchable but not anymore, I am working on it now though.

IHF.info: What has been the response back home to your success here in Denmark?

Angela Malestein: In Holland handball is really exploding. Finally, handball is more popular, the games are all broadcast live on TV and a lot of people are handball fans.

They like watching and we are finally getting some attention - we deserve this attention.

IHF.info: What do they see when they watch the Dutch handball team play?

Angela Malestein: They see we are a team who fight for each other - everybody sees it. This is the power of this team, everybody is good, plays good, feels good and we have pleasure in playing handball. That is our power.

IHF.info: Both Henk Groener and his assistant coach Peter Portengen are quite vocal on the sidelines and are a real pair compared to other teams who just have one coach, what makes them special?

Angela Malestein: Both our coaches have a good communication with the group. We talk about things we like as players and they like as coach and then we work together on them. This is a strong point for us.

IHF.info: In your position, you are constantly running up and down the court, attacking and defending. What is it you like about playing in that spot?

Angela Malestein: I like playing in both attack and defence because in attack I like to be creative on the wing and be technical, of course I am depending on the back players, but we are team that play a lot with the wings.

It feels great to score goals, but I don’t think it is really special. I am satisfied and glad I scored, but it is our game to play fast and it’s my job and the team expect it from me and they expect me to run, so I run forwards and backwards.

I also like to be in the defence because I can be aggressive in the game which is what I like, but not outside of the court of course.

IHF.info: How do you describe your team and what can you improve?

Angela Malestein: We are creative and technical and hard, but not hard enough. Our defence is hard but sometimes maybe we are too sweet and it is something we can work on. We sometimes give too much respect to the other teams.

IHF.info: Tell us about your goalkeeper Tess Wester.

Angela Malestein: I actually share a room with Tess; we have been roomies for many years so I know her well. We also play our club handball together at SG BBM Bietgiheim.

I joke with her now and say “now you are the star, but just be normal,” but, really, we don’t think about what people are saying, we just focus on handball.

IHF.info: What do you expect from facing Poland in the semi-final – the second time you have faced them at Denmark 2015?

Angela Malestein: Poland will be much more aggressive and what I saw in the group games they were playing really individually.

But something happened for them to beat Hungary and Russia which are really good results and they are now playing as a team. I am expecting a completely different game.

For more it’s not hard to forget our first game, I forgot it as soon as it finished and moved onto the next game.

IHF.info: How do you think your success here at Denmark 2015 can inspire the same eight-year-old girls like you were in Netherlands to take up handball?

Angela Malestein: Well I hope sport in general will inspire lots of kids, because sport is the most lovely thing you can do.

I hope everybody want to play handball as it’s such a nice sport to watch and play.

IHF.info: Finally, a word on the Dutch fans here at Denmark 2015.

Angela Malestein: Our fans are really insane, they give us something extra and they are coming from everywhere.