Issue 123June 2 2010

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GB Men Prepare forEuro 2012 Battles

Victory Over Belgium Marks Improvement in Form Ahead of London Tournament

WITH little more than a week until their firstinternational matches on home soil, the GreatBritain men’s handball team have beenfinalising their preparations for the 2012European Championships. The squad arrived in Britainon Sunday following theirmorale-boosting 26-24 victoryover hosts Belgium in afriendly match last week, andtravelled to LoughboroughUniversity to use their top-class training facilities. The win over Belgium wasGB’s first over Europeanopposition for around fouryears, and although they lostout in the second fixture thefollowing day it still provideda real benchmark of theprogress being made by thesquad.

Trailing 14-10 at halftime, GB hit back hardafter the break andwere rarely behind.They levelled at 14-14 withinthree minutes of the secondhalf, and continued to controlthe match right up to thewhistle. With the regime put inplace by Head Coach DraganDjukic now taking shape, GBmen battled for the full 60minutes and fully deservedtheir victory. Afterwards, captain CiaranWilliams said: “This 2012

European ChampionshipQualification tournament  iswithout doubt the mostimportant tournament meand the current GB Men'ssquad have participated in. “I personally think that thisis the best GB team we haveever had, and we have asuperb chance of qualifyingand sending a message out tothe handball world that weare on track with our ultimate

goal of being competitivecome the London Olympics in2012.” Day tickets include twomatches, with the winner ofthe group at the end of thetournament going forward tothe next stage of thecompetition against Hungary,Macedonia and BosniaHerzegovina.

HANDBALL fans and players from acrossEurope came to England last weekend for the

10th Liverpool Handball Festival at theGreenbank Sports Academy. Several home teams did battle with rivalsfrom Germany and Spain in competition formen and women as well as wheelchairhandball, and all provided some thrillingentertainment. German outfit Magdeburg ran out winnersof the men’s event, while last year’schampions Garva from Barcelona successfullydefended their women’s title. And in thewheelchair competition there was a home winfor Greenbank. After several good matches in the earlystages, Ruislip Eagles reached the final andfaced Spanish outfit Garva, but they lost out 5-2. In the men’s final Coslada lost out narrowly9-10 to Magdeburg, while Greenbank beat theAll Stars team 8-6 in the wheelchair final. Finally, in the plate final, Manchester beatOlympia B 6-4.

SOME of the best teams in Englishhandball will be in Essex on Saturday asthe Brentwood Centre stages the finalsof the EHA Cup and plate competitions. Manchester take on Ruislip in the finalof the men’s Cup, while women’s leaguechampions Great Dane will do battleonce again with arch rivals and formerleague champions Ruislip Eagles in thefinal of the Women’s Cup. And the men’s Plate final will also bedecided in an action-packed day, withCambridge taking on ManchesterUniversity in that final.

Festivalin Liverpool

GREAT Britain women’s trademark strongdefence helped them battle well against WorldChampionship finalists France in Lille onSunday, but the hosts proved too good andran out 34-15 winners in their final Euro 2010clash. Head Coach Jesper Holmris was pleased withhis team’s performance against a side whofinished second in the World Championship andhave easily topped the qualifying group. “France led 9-2 early in the game,” he said. “Welooked nervous, but we soon got it together andplayed well for the rest of the half. We were only16-8 behind at the break. “We started the second half well too, but onceFrance changed to a more defensive formationwe struggled to get past them as they’re themost physical team in the world. “I’m really proud of the team. We defendedwell, and Sarah Hargreaves had another greatgame in goal.” Left winger Holly Lam-Moores and left backEwa Palies both played well and scored four goalseach, while Britt Goodwin, Nina Heglund and LynByl both scored twice.

GB Women PlayWorld No 2