Eagles Claim First Title

RUISLIP Eagles claimed their first silverware of the season when they were crowned London Cup champions at Leyton SCORE Centre in the capital on Sunday.

The Eagles took on Olympia and Thames in the Cup, which acted as good preparation for the start of the National League fixtures.

They began confidently, and led almost all the way to a 16-10 victory over Olympia, while Thames were also beaten with some ease, Ruislip winning 20-3 after displaying excellent technique in both attack and defence.

Thames picked themselves up well for their final match against Olympia, and matched their rivals for much of the game. But Olympia held their nerve and pulled away from their rivals in the closing minutes to secure an 18-11 victory.

Handball Hits Universities

A MEETING is being staged later this month aimed at organising a Universities Handball Tournament in December.

The meeting, at Nottingham university Sports Centre on October 23, will gauge whether there is enough interest in staging a Student Beginners Tournament on December 4.

If there is enough interest, the event could lead to a British Universities Championship in February, with the eventual winners going on to represent Great Britain Universities at the European Championships in Rijeka, Croatia, from July 17-24 2010.

Anyone wanting to attend the meeting, which starts at 2pm on October 23, is asked to email Admin@britishuniversitieshandball.com for more details.

Champions League Action on Eurosport

WOMEN’S EHF Champions League action is being screened live on British Eurosport this weekend, with British Handball’s own Paul Bray providing the commentary.

The group stages clash between Itxako Reyna de Navarra of Spain and German outfit HC Leipzig will be screened at 6pm, while the following day the Men’s group stage clash between German high-flyers THW Kiel and Poland’s Vive Targi Kielce will be on at 8pm.

Those matches are just two of a regular list of matches being shown on the channel throughout the Autumn, with Bray providing authoritative English commentary.

A dual British and French citizen who has played and coached the game to international level, Bray has been commentating for Eurosport since 1989, covering more than 800 matches including nine World Championships, seven European Championships and five Olympic Games as well as numerous other matches.

Sat, Oct 9 (18:00 GMT)
Women’s Champions League, group stages
Itxako Reyna de Navarra (ESP) v HC Leipzig (GER)

Sun, Oct 10 (20:00 GMT)
Men’s Champions League, group stages
THW Kiel (GER) v Vive Targi Kielce (POL)

Sun, Oct 17 (15:00 GMT)
Women’s Champions League, group stages
Gyori Audi ETO (HUN) v Podravka Vegeta (CRO)

Sun, Oct 17 (19:45 GMT)
Men’s Champions League, group stages
Vive Targi Kielce (POL) v Rhein-Neckar-Löwen (GER)

Sat, Oct 23 (14:00 GMT)
Women’s Champions League, group stages
HC Leipzig (GER) v Hypo Niederösterreich (AUT)

* Schedule is subject to change, check listings beforehand

Nottingham Win Opening Clash with Student Rivals

NOTTINGHAM University made an emphatic start to the new English National League season when they secured a dramatic 22-20 victory over Manchester University at Belle Vue on Sunday.

Some excellent goalkeeping was on show, particularly from Nottingham, and both sides made it difficult for each other to build any sort of lead.

Manchester’s Berezowski showed he was in lethal form from nine metres, and Hough netted himself five goals. But Nottingham were careful to ensure goals kept coming, particularly from Mardaras and Bodet. At half time, the score was 11-11.

The second half saw both teams losing their shape and discipline, and Manchester University’s Castro, who played on the edge all game, was able to force Nottingham into conceding penalties.

The red card for Maradaras in the second period meant Nottingham were forced to be without their most creative player, but good work with two minutes to play meant they were able to open up an all-important two-goal lead, which they hung on to with some good defence.

In other action on Sunday, senior division debutants Deva put on an impressive second half display, but it was not enough to force a comeback against a depleted but well-oiled Manchester side who eventually won 25-17.

Hammache for Manchester was the star of the show with nine goals, while LIatouji added eight.
A new and inexperienced Wirral side lost heavily to a Salford which was littered with Great Britain Under-21 players.

Jack Hennessey scored 14 goals, while Aden Woodall added ten to help Salford to a 46-21 victory. Anthony Elston scored eight for Wirral.

And league newcomers Liverpool Wolves Foundation emerged 28-10 winners over Liverpool Speke Garston, with Caralo scoring nine goals. But good defence proved the key to their victory.

Great Dane Claim London Cup Honours

ENGLISH League champions Great Dane lifted the men’s London Cup last weekend, but did it the hard way.

Ruislip Eagles beat the champions 13-14 in their opening match, but Great Dane weren’t about to make the same mistake twice and then went on to win the tournament.

A highly-contested clash followed between Thames and Olympia in the second game of the afternoon and only in the dying seconds of the game Olympia went ahead 11-10.

Thames however showed their good run of form by beating Ruislip Eagles (15-14) whereas Great Dane returned to winning ways by striking arch rival Olympia (13-12).

Olympia finished second of the tournament by beating narrowly Ruislip Eagles (13-11) whereas Great Dane finished in style against Thames (17-7) to finally win the Cup offered by the tournament partner, Kits-Direct.co.uk.

In the women’s event, which is spread over two weekends, a full Great Dane women team took on Thames squad with just seven players available.

Defying the odds, Thames battled hard and proved a strong challenger leading at half time 10-9. The second half was as entertaining with both teams really close. The game had unfortunately to be stopped five minutes before the final whistle due to the injury of a Thames player who is recovering well. Great Dane was winning 23-21.

The Women’s London Cup resumes on Sunday, October 3, with Ruislip Eagles, Olympia and Thames competing at Leyton SCORE Centre from 12pm.

London Handball Cup This Weekend

THE London Handball Association stages it’s pre-season tournament this weekend, with all the top men’s and women’s teams from around the capital competing at the Leyton SCORE Centre.

Great Dane, Thames, Olympia and Ruislip Eagles will all do battle in the women’s event on Saturday from 1-4pm, before finishing their matches on October 3 from 12-3.

And the men’s tournament takes place this Sunday from 12-5pm.

Each game last 30 minutes, providing for plenty of exciting and varied action. Spectators welcome!

Olympia Draw First Blood in Nottingham

OLYMPIA Handball Club drew first blood in the 2010-11 season when they won last weekend’s Nottingham Pre-Season Tournament.

Fielding two teams, Olympia dominated so much that the final was an all-Olympia affair, with their A team winning 13-6 over their B team counterparts.

The Tournament proved a good workout for Olympia, who head to Croatia next month to compete in the European Challenge Trophy.

Split into two groups, the competition was dominated by Olympia whose two sides topped each group.

En-route to the knockout stages Olympia’s A were made to work hard by England Boys, who were using the competition as preparation for the Home Nations Tournament but, suffering from some late withdrawals, lost out 6-7.

Second in their group, Nottingham finished third overall after beating England 9-5.
Nottingham had two of the top goalkeepers in the tournament, with No 1 Dana Mohammed making his England debut against his club side.

Aside from the action on the court, the event was also used as a training weekend for the first group of Technical Officials being trained up for the London 2012 Olympics, who ensured the event ran smoothly.

The event proved a big hit - so much so that next year’s event on September 3-4 is being planned as a two-day event to allow for more teams to take part.