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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tight at the Top After Thrilling Play-Off Matches


After beating leaders and reigning champions Great Dane in the Cup the previous week, Olympia continued their good form with a 33-30 victory over Manchester.

Olympia are now level on points with Manchester but ahead on goal difference and stand a very good chance of securing a European spot in the final two games of the season.

Ten goals from Lindberg underpinned their victory, while Haddadou scored eight for Olympia. Lasek scored ten for Manchester and Girost seven, but it was not enough for victory.

Cambridge overtook Manchester after beating a battling Salford side 36-27.

Nine goals from Fernandez helped Cambridge control the match, while for Salford Garthman, Tauraoui and Woodall all scored five.

Great Dane cruised to a 33-17 win over bottom of the play-off table Nottingham University, with all but four of their players getting on the scoresheet. Remus Bugariu scored eight and Philip Altong five for Great Dane, while Nottingham’s best was Bodet with six.

The play-offs resume in two weeks time on May 9 at Moulton in Northampton, where the match of the day looks set to be the clash between Cambridge and Manchester.

Olympia will be aiming to maintain third spot in the league with a win over Nottingham, while Great Dane play Salford.

In-Form Glasgow March into Last Four of Scottish Cup


Glasgow maintained their late season form with a convincing 59-21 victory over East Kilbride in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup, and now go forward to the semi finals where they face Tryst.

Following their recent draw with the league Champions Gracemount, Glasgow proved too strong for a young East Kilbride side.

The early part of the match Glasgow dominated but East Kilbride had a much better second half after only scoring eight goals in the first half.

The scoring was led by veteran player Mick Lavery with seven goals with another good performance from Colin Reid with four goals who is still only 15 years old.

The scoring for Glasgow was led by Seb Klotz with 15 goals. The season is now over for East Kilbride but they have shown great improvement throughout the year and with a young squad can look forward to making more impression next season.

Tryst reached the semi finals after beating a weakened Liberton side 53-14.
Liberton had several of their players stuck abroad and had lost one of their key student players, but they showed heart throughout the match and never gave up.

They had a young team made up of some up-and-coming Scottish youngsters. It was one of these - Blair Strachan who led the way with five goals in the match and is really starting to show his potential.

The Tryst team were a mix of youth and experience with long-serving player James Yule leading their scoring with 10 goals followed closely by another of the old guard Chris McManus with nine goals making a rare appearance for this match.

His strength on the line proved very difficult for the Liberton team throughout the match. Young player Darren Fisher showed how much he has improved this season with some clinical finishing on the wing with six goals.

Glasgow University were making an appearance in the Scottish Cup after an absence from Scottish Handball competition since the 1980s, but lost out 37-15 to league champions Gracemount.

The match was very close in the initial stages with Glasgow only trailing 7-4. But the experience of the champions told in the end.

Great Dane Keep Title Hopes Alive


GREAT Dane ensured the outcome of the English Women’s League would go down to the last game of the season when they beat arch rivals Ruislip Eagles 27–21 at Leyton on Saturday.

Danes knew that they had to win in order to keep their title hopes alive, whilst Ruislip would win the league if they beat Danes in this penultimate game.

Both sides fielded a full strength side and as expected the first half was a closely contested affair with both defences strong but Ruislip missed several golden opportunities and found Danes keeper Ida Griffith in fine form.

Things were all square at half time but Danes produced a devastating 10-minute spell in the second half which saw them open up an unassailable lead.

The defending champions regained their composure to finish strongly in the last five minutes but by then the game was lost and Great Danes had a deserved victory under their belt and the momentum very much back with them for the last game on May 8.

Iris Manu (pictured) top scored for Great Danes with nine, whilst Dani Sposi scored five for Ruislip.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Pre-Season Starts at Nottingham

GET your 2010-11 season off to a great start! Enter the Pre-Season Tournament being staged in Nottingham on Sunday, September 5.

The event will be staged at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonnington Campus, and while the exact format has not yet been fixed, it will include several games and include both men’s and women’s competitions.

If you’re interested, please contact Colin Wills at colin.wills@nottingham.ac.uk

Handball Fans: Sport England Want YOU!



SPORT England are appealing for the views of handball fans as they launch a major new survey of the sporting landscape of the country.

They have commissioned top market research company Ipsos MORI to conduct a survey about people’s experiences of playing all sports, and it is important to the future growth of handball in this country that as many people as possible take part.

For more details and to take the survey, please go to http://www.englandhandball.com/


Coaching Courses for Referees

NEXT month sees the first of England Handball’s new courses aimed at recruiting handball match officials.

The Level One courses are being staged at Siddal Moor Sports College in Rochdale on May 1 and then at Newham Leisure Centre in London on May 15 and 16.

The courses are aimed at giving attendees a basic understanding of the rules of the game and what is expected of officials. By the end of the course, you will be able to referee junior matches as well as games in the Development League.

For more details go to http://www.englandhandball.com/

Race for European Places Reaches Crucial Stage



THIS Sunday’s matches at the Greenbank Academy in Liverpool could prove to be some of the most important of the season as the National League play-offs reach a crucial stage.

Manchester’s victory over leaders Great Dane a fortnight ago has thrown the play-offs wide open, with five of the six teams in the end of season competition still battling for a top three finish and entry into European competition.

After beating Great Dane in the Cup last Saturday, Olympia will be aiming to take that form into their clash with Manchester, knowing that a victory could well see them move up from fourth to second.

Currently third in the table, Cambridge play Salford and will also be bidding to preserve their spot in the top trio. Defeat for Salford will spell the end of their play-off hopes.

And leaders Great Dane will be looking to get back to winning ways and salvage the League title when they play bottom of the league Nottingham.

Gracemount go Unbeaten Through Scottish League




A CLOSE 41-38 victory over runners-up Cumbernauld proved a fitting way for Scottish champions Gracemount to end their league season on Saturday.

With 11 wins and one draw from their 12 games, Gracemount (pictured) ensured they were unbeaten through the season - but it was close in Saturday’s final game at Blackburn.

The lead changed hands several times in the match of the day, with Allan Stokes scoring eight for Gracemount while Alan Govan added nine for Cumbernauld. Stokes ends the season as the league’s top-scorer with 111 goals.

In other action, Ayr ended their season on a high with a 52-34 win over East Kilbride. They put in a strong performance and quickly opened up a 10-goal lead which they built on until the end. Kriss Szulc top-scored with 22 goals, while Mick Lavery added 13 for East Kilbride.

Tryst beat rivals Glasgow 27-21 in the day’s other game, with Nikos Tsounakis and Bora Sieng scoring five each for Glasgow. But team-mate Danos Sagias was second top-scorer in the league, with 103 goals from 10 games.

For Tryst, James Jule added seven goals to help his side to win.

Olympia Overcome Travel Problems to Beat Manchester


AFTER overcoming travel problems which saw them without their rented minibus to Manchester, Olympia women reached the semi finals of the EHA Cup after scraping a narrow 18-17 win over Manchester.

With their travel plans scuppered when their rented minibus fell through, the team bought their own minibus to travel North - and the effort certainly paid off with a spot in the last four secured.

Manchester’s right winger Loewman ran riot in the early stages and scored repeatedly. However, after a timeout and some words from their coach, Olympia recovered in the second half and ran up a three-goal lead with only a few minutes to go.

However, only some very strong defending in the last few seconds saw the team hold on to a one-goal lead and claim the game 18-17.

Elsewhere in the women’s EHA Cup, Deva beat Cambridge 28-23.

Olympia March on as Champions Falter


OLYMPIA men’s team inflicted a narrow 26-24 extra time defeat on reigning Cup and League champions Great Dane as they reached the semi finals of the EHA Cup on Saturday.

The victory was the highlight of a great weekend for Olympia, whose women’s team also reached the semi finals of the Cup with a win over Manchester University.

The men’s team started on the Saturday with the tough news that their coach was stranded in Paris and influential line player Remek Bobrowski was unavailable. And they endured a nervous wait before their only available goalkeeper arrived for the match.

Great Dane made a strong start and scored several goals without reply before Aillaud settled Olympia’s nerves, and they battled back into the game to 5-3. The teams then followed each other closely until a half-time score of 10-8 in favour of Great Dane.

Following the restart however, Olympia scored a series of quick goals and Great Dane looked lost against a very aggressive 3-2-1 Olympia defence.

They responded by taking out the line player and playing with four back players instead, but could not find many ways through, and Olympia ran to a 13-11 lead. With a final score of 21-21 the game was taken into extra time.

During extra time both teams’ defensive skills were on display, and Great Dane were restricted to scoring only three times during the ten minutes, while Olympia scored five times.

Olympia’s goal keeper led the line with a man of the match appearance, but the crucial moment came just before the end of the game, when Olympia were one goal up and Great Dane broke for a counter attack.

Superb defending from Haddadou (pictured) saw him catch up and stealing the ball away, to enable Olympia to score the final goal of the match and book their place in the semi finals on May 15-16.

In other Men’s EHA Cup results, Manchester were made to battle before securing a 30-25 victory over surprise round one winners Bristol, and book their place in the semi finals against Olympia.
And the second semi final will be between Salford and Ruislip Eagles.

The determined Eagles overcame a young and promising Deva team in London 34-11, with Hugo Mazel top-scoring with nine for Ruislip, while Steven Jameson was Deva’s best with six.

In the Men’s EHA Plate, Liverpool beat City rivals Liverpool Speke Garston 24-20 to book their place in the semi finals against Cambridge.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

New Online Handball Shop Goes Live


The online handball shop has been re-launched and now includes GB official kit and merchandise as well as the popular handballs, goals and resin products.

As before there are good discounts available for quantities of balls purchased. Look out for special offers coming soon.

Visit the online shop....

Profits from the online shop are shared between British handball, England Handball and Scottish Handball Associations to support the development of handball in Britain.

Women's League: Great Dane Throw Down Gauntlet

HAVING beaten their rivals in the exhibition match at Crystal Palace a fortnight ago, Great Dane threw down the gauntlet to rivals Ruislip Eagles with a comfortable 16-27 victory over Olympia in their latest Women’s League match on Sunday.

The victory came after a strong first half performance where they built a 10-goal lead with the returning Anne Kandler and Iris Manu causing problems for Olympia.

Olympia rallied in the second half and went goal for goal with Great Dane, but the game was over as a contest after the first half performance of Danes who are peaking nicely ahead of the key matches against Ruislip still to come.

An under-strength Ruislip took to the court next against Thames and had to put left winger Kiki Dreksler in goal, but she provided an inspired performance that set up Ruislip for a result that matched that of Danes almost exactly.

Dreksler was very much the first line of attack, setting up a constant stream of fast break passes that Dani Sposi duly converted.

Thames had no answer to the fast break game plan of Ruislip and trailed 7 – 16 by half time. As with the first match, the second half was a closer affair but it was also scrappy with a string of two minute suspensions.

Dreksler continued to frustrate Thames whilst Sposi rattled in 12 goals for the defending champions, to run out 27 – 15 victors.

The remaining matches of Ruislip versus Great Dane are sure to be hotly contested with Danes likely to have to win both games to take the title, following their slip up against Olympia earlier in the season, when they were without several key players.

Gracemount Crowned Scottish Champions

GRACEMOUNT secured their first Scottish League title last weekend when they battled to a thrilling 32-32 draw with Glasgow on Saturday.

Having lost just one of their 11 games so far, Gracemount are three points clear of Cumbernauld and can’t be caught with just one match remaining.

After a one minute silence was held for the President of Poland and the 130 people that died last weekend, both teams started well and nothing could separate them in the first part of the first half. However, Glasgow led 17-16 at the break.

The second half was also tight and although Glasgow never lost the lead, Gracemount equalised several times.

Glasgow stayed on top until 15 seconds before the final whistle, when Gracemount’s right back scored from nine metres to level the score at 32-32.

Glasgow shot from nine metres themselves with two seconds to go, but the effort was blocked, the whistle sounded the celebrations began.

Danos Sagias netted 10 goals for Glasgow, Allan Stokes scored seven for Gracemount.

In the day’s other match, Liberton ended their season on a high, beating Ayr by 10 goals.

They started the game strongly and they had a comfortable lead of four or five goals from the start. The win caps their best season so far, finishing with five victories.

With 11 goals, Kriss Szulc was top-scorer for Ayr, while Zeller Johannes netted seven for Liberton.

Manchester End Great Dane's Unbeaten Run

MANCHESTER threw their National League title hopes a lifeline on Sunday when they beat reigning champions Great Dane, bringing an end to their two-season domestic unbeaten run.

The thrilling 26-25 victory leaves Manchester just one point behind Great Dane. While both sides have three play-off matches remaining, the Manchester v Great Dane match scheduled for May 23 could well turn out to be the title decider.

Both sides began with strong defences and a physical approach, but the Manchester goalkeepers Deak and Belus (pictured) gave them an edge in the first and second halves respectively.

There was never more than a couple of goals between the two sides as the lead changed hands frequently, but Manchester led 12-10 at the break.

The closing stages of an intense match led to a player being sent off for both sides, but Manchester thought they had done enough for the win with Lasek wrong-footing the Danes keeper while under pressure.

Great Dane hit back in search of an equaliser with 30 seconds left, however, the Manchester defence held out well to secure a one-point victory.

In the day’s other match, an under-strength Salford took on Olympia with just five players as much of their team was held up because of an accident on the motorway.

Olympia ran out convincing and predictable 50-14 winners, but Salford should be back to full strength for the next set of play-off matches on April 25, which are due to be held at the Greenbank Academy in Liverpool.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Live Events site launched


British Handball LIVE EVENTS site is a new one stop ticket shop for all British Handball matches in UK. http://www.amiando.com/britishhandball

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ruislip Eagles v Great Dane: Photos now online!


Photographs from the Ruislip Eagles v Great Dane exhibition match at Crystal Palace are now online.

The match was a warm-up game prior to the GB v Iceland Women's Euro 2010 clash, and photographer Nigel Farrow was on hand to capture the action.

Please contact Nigel if you wish to use the pictures for anything other than personal use.

Go to www.picasaweb.google.com/britishhandball to see the pictures.

UCL are Tops in London Event

UNIVERSITY College London came out on top after a four-team handball tournament among four universities in London recently.

As the only one of the competitors with experience of playing handball, UCL came out on top - but they didn’t have it all their own way.

A promising-looking Bedfordshire University team inflicted a 6-5 defeat on a UCL team who played in the Development League for the first time last season, but then lost out 8-7 to Letsgetfitforsports, a team made up of PGCE students from South East London.

Other teams competing included London Metropolitan University, who played well despite being short of numbers.

UCL topped the table, while just one point behind was Bedfordshire. And Letsgetfitforsport finished third.

The event was organised by Chris Smith from the City of London as well as Marc Fayemi from Ruislip Eagles and Tobi Julen from Olympia.

Champs Ruislip Set for Thames Battle

THE English Women’s League resumes this Saturday, with leaders Ruislip Eagles taking on Thames, while second-placed Great Dane play Olympia.

The matches, at Leyton SCORE Centre on Saturday, begin at 12.30pm with the Great Dane v Olympia match, while the final game follows at 2.30pm.

Ruislip and Great Dane played out a highly-entertaining exhibition match before the Great Britain v Iceland Euro 2010 game at Crystal Palace last Wednesday, with Great Dane just edging to victory after another close match.

The arch rivals are due to play each other again in the league shortly - keep checking out the Handball News for details of exactly where and when the match will take place.

Make or Break Time For Play-Off Hopes

THIS Sunday could prove to be make or break time for the title ambitions of several of the teams in the English League Play-offs.

Unbeaten leaders Great Dane take on second-placed Manchester who realistically need to win to keep their title hopes alive. But more than that, their hopes of finishing in the top three - and securing a spot in European competition - could come under threat if Olympia beat Salford.

Both those teams could still make the top three and will be pushing for victory.

The first game of the day at Leyton SCORE Centre is the Olympia v Salford clash at 2.

Finally, the last game at 4pm is the clash of the top two, Great Dane and Manchester.

Newham Flames Light The Way

THE growth of handball in the London region was demonstrated at the recent under-16 Inter-Borough Competition - and it was Newham Flames who dominated the event.

The event, organised with support from Newham Borough in partnership with Leyton Orient Community Sports Partnership (LOCSP) as well as England Handball, saw several good games of handball played which showed the rapid growth of the sport in the capital.

Held at Newham Leisure Centre, the event was also supported by Olympic gold medallist Tessa Sanderson, who is a big fan of handball.

Newham put home advantage to devastating use their first team winning the event and their second team finishing as runners-up.

Waltham Forest finished were third, while other teams who took part included Hackney, Barking and Dagenham.

Ari Bekker London Handball Development Officer, said: “It was great to see so many players from the same age group in friendly but competitive games.

“Handball has shown great development in London and I hope we can continue this with help from the Newham Activity Team. The organisation was fantastic - a special thank you for Abul Hussain who managed to put everything together.”

And Thomas Laquan, 17, who has played for Newham since 2007, added: “I started to play handball at school. A coach came to our school and showed us and told us about handball. I haven’t heard about it before.”

Most of the players with Newham Flames were picked during a talent indication programme set up by Newham Council and LOCSP. Newham players have competed in international tournaments across Europe, and have travelled to Gothenburg, Manchester and Berlin to compete against Europe’s best youth handball teams.

Olympic Gold medallist Tessa Sanderson, who is helping the Newham Sports Academy to provide everybody with elite coaching, mentors, training and sport equipment, said afterwards: “Handball is about speed, agility, and communication. You don’t really need contact. It’s a sport that everyone can enjoy and good for everybody.

“I can see definitely there’s a future for handball in the UK. The more you promoted the more people get involved in it and the better it gets.”

And Chairman of England Handball, Mike Briers said: “We can see there is a lot of natural talent here which just needs coaching. It’s always fantastic to see young people playing sport together. And they progressed a lot during the late years.”

Local Sports Legacy Advisor, Alan Skewis added: “It’s good to see these children playing again and again and see how they developed over the last 3-4 years. Even those who have only come once are already skilled.

Skewis outlined plans for a handball league: “We have to make sure before the Olympic Games that the Olympic facilities will be used. The idea that all people from these boroughs can come together in the Handball Arena strengthens our plan to establish a strong Handball League later.”

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Great Britain v Austria tickets go on sale

The next GB home fixture for the Euro 2010 Championships Qualification round will be held in Glasgow on 26th May.

Tickets can be ordered at http://www.amiando.com/gbrvaut

Ruislip overwhelm Olympia

WOMEN’S National League leaders Ruislip Eagles maintained their devastating form when they secured an emphatic 31-11 victory over Olympia at Leyton on Sunday. The reigning champions, Ruislip faced an under-strength Olympia side, but were wary of a team who shocked title rivals Great Dane a few weeks earlier. The Eagles began well enough but missed six good chances to build an early lead. Olympia kept pace with Eagles in terms of goals until Ruislip’s coach called a relatively early time out to stem the flow of missed chances. Once back in action the Eagles responded well and opened up a seven-goal lead by half-time with Sposi and Telek dominant on the fast breaks.
Olympia battled well through Torgnes and Selneas, but Ruislip stepped up a gear in the second half with plenty of fast breaks and an imposing defence that restricted Olympia to just four goals in the second half, with stand in goal keeper Papenfuss having another good game. Sposi was in fine scoring form and netted 11 goals. With another win in the bag, the Eagles will need to maintain their good form as they prepare for three matches against Great Dane. The first is a warm-up match at Crystal Palace on Wednesday afternoon prior to the Great Britain v Iceland clash, but that will be followed with back to back league games against Great Dane in a period which could well prove crucial.

Source: Handball News, 31st March 2010

Tryst Give Scottish League Leaders a Rough Ride

SCOTTISH League leaders Gracemount continued their dominance - but had to battle hard to overcome a strong Tryst side on Sunday.
There was nothing to choose between the two sides in a close first half with Gracemount leading by one goal at half time. But they went three ahead after a strong start to the second half, and their depth on the bench proved vital to holding on to win. Robert Schotten scored 15 for Gracemount, while Bruce Hunter scored 11 for Tryst. Second-placed Glasgow beat Cumbernauld in third 32-19 after a strong start which saw them five ahead after just ten minutes.
While Glasgow only had eight players for the game, Cumbernauld also struggled with many young and inexperienced players. Seven goals each from Danos Sagias, Bora Sieng and Christoph Boettger made up the bulk of Glasgow’s goals, while James Jule and James Johnstone scored seven each for Cumbernauld. EK82 battled hard in search of their first league win, but they could not overcome a Liberton side who were aiming to finish fourth in the league and went down 27-23. Colin Reid scored seven for East Kilbride, while for Liberton Zellen Johannes scored ten.

Source: Handball News, 31st March 2010

Handball Clubs: Apply for Cash Now !

HANDBALL clubs are being encouraged to apply for grants of up to £1,000 from the Cash 4 Clubs funding scheme.
More than £30,000 was given out to clubs across a range of sports in 2008, with the money able to be used for improving facilities, buying new equipment, gaining coaching qualifications of just helping the club survive.
Previous grants have been awarded to the Southampton Canoe Club which received a grant of £1,000 to buy junior paddles and safety equipment. The Rugby Sea Cadets received a grant of £1,000 to maintain and replace safety equipment, while Ipswich Basketball Club received a grant of £1,000 to initiate a new women's team aimed at the Over-16s League.
For more details go to www.cash-4-clubs.com


Source: Handball News, 31st March 2010

Great Dane Open Up Lead in Play-Offs

DEFENDING champions Great Dane extended their lead at the top of the Men’s English National League play-off table to three points after notching up an emphatic 47-23 victory over Salford in Liverpool on Sunday.
Previously just one point ahead in the sixteam end of season playoffs, Great Dane took full advantage of Manchester’s narrow 2327 loss to Cambridge. Still second, Manchester are now just one point ahead of Cambridge in the play-offs. And with a tough clash against Great Dane at Leyton on April 11 to come, Manchester’s hopes of wrestling the title away from Great Dane appear to be slipping. Jordi Torres scored ten goals in Great Dane’s victory, while Juan Pedro added eight and Martin Kubisa six. For Salford, Woodall and Tamaroui scored six each, but it was not enough. Eleven goals from Tomasz Lasek was not enough for Manchester who lost out to Cambridge. 10-12 ahead at half time, Cambridge’s top-scorers were Paco Fernandez with seven and Gregoire Massimi with six. In Sunday’s other clash, Olympia maintained their challenge with a 46-30 win over Nottingham as the Southern-based teams continued to dominate the play-offs. After a break for Easter, the play-offs resume on April 11 at Leyton SCORE Centre in London, where the main clash will be between the top two,Great Dane’s Jordi Torres - ten goals against Salford in Sunday’s play-off clash.Great Dane and Manchester. Cambridge will be aiming to move up the table when they take on Nottingham, while Olympia face Salford.

Source: Handball News, 31st March 2010