A Festival of Handball: EHA Cup Final Day

CRYSTAL Palace National Sports Centre has been confirmed as the venue for this year’s EHA Cup finals on June 4, and it looks set to be a mini festival of handball too!

The action starts at 12noon with the final of the National Girls Cup, and will be followed at 1pm by the boys final between North East Manchester Hawks and Olympia Cannock.

The first of the senior matches is at 2pm, when the women’s EHA Cup final is staged, while the men’s EHA Cup final is at 4pm.

And following the England Handball matches, the GB Women’s team will take on Finland in the qualifying stages of the 2012 European Championship.

Rivals Set for Cup Clash

IN a warm-up for their play-off clash next week, Great Dane and Salford do battle this Saturday in the semi final of the EHA Cup at Leyton SCORE Centre in London.

The winners of the match, which begins at 4pm, will go through to the final on June 4 at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

The other semi final sees Manchester play Ruislip at Greenbank Academy in Liverpool on Saturday (3pm start).

Meanwhile, in the Women’s EHA Cup Olympia play Deva at Crystal Palace on Saturday (12noon start), while newly-crowned league champions Ruislip Eagles take on former champions Great Dane at Leyton (2pm start).

And in the Men’s Plate competition, Cambridge play Oxford University at Moulton near Northampton at 12noon, following which Warwick University play Bristol at 2pm.

Scottish Cup Finals: Line-up Confirmed

TRYST will play Gracemount in the final of the Men’s Scottish Cup after two thrilling semi final clashes took place last weekend.

The top two teams in Scotland, Glasgow and Tryst, did battle in the first semi final which was supposed to be a close affair. But with Glasgow fielding just the bare seven players due to injuries and unavailabilities, Tryst ran out 40-32 winners.

Tryst started very strongly and opened up a 5-1 lead after just a few minutes, and Glasgow’s number of players reduced even further when their centre player got a red card during the first half.

To compound the problems, one of their court players as well as their goalkeeper picked up injuries, but managed to stay on court for the rest of the game.

Tryst kept the goal difference at around 7-8 goals and looked comfortable, but Glasgow fought on and reduced Tryst’s lead to 3-4 goals, mainly due to Danos Sagias with 17 goals.

However, they didn’t have the energy to get closer against Tryst’s full team.

Sagias was the game’s top-scorer, while for Tryst Mark McLaughlan scored nine and Gary McCafferty 7.

The other semi final was a closer affair, with Gracemount scraping past East Kilbride 30-29.
EK’s strength in attack surprised their rivals, but it wasn’t enough to make it to the final. Mick Lavery and Jose Benavidez both scored six for EK, while Christian Wolf (9) and Vincent Martinez (7) were Glasgow’s best.

Hawks Fly into Final

NORTH East Manchester Hawks Under-18 boys booked their place in the final of the National Cup with a 23-12 victory over rivals Deva last weekend.
A solid defensive performance underpinned their semi-final victory. Goalkeeper Terry Ellis made some key early saves, including a penalty, and the Hawks were 10-6 ahead at half time.

James Higgins and Sam Bedlow made several surging drives, while playmaker Stefan Whaley racked up the points consistently and wide players Jamal Braithwaite, Tyrell Coley and Pavel Winnick played their part in rotation.

But coach Donna Hankinson reserved special praise for line player Matthew Barnes, playing at that position for the first time in the absence of injured Wesley Hunt.

“We lost to Deva by a point in the league play-off semis in February and have been working very hard in training since with current GB men’s captain Ciaran Williams, who has been inspirational,” said Hankinson.

“This result was reward for all that hard work and now it’s a job half done.”

The Hawks can now look forward to an encounter with Cannock at Crystal Palace on June 4, who beat Warrington Wolves 26-18 in the other semi-final at Birchwood Sports Centre, Warrington.

England U19s Get Taste of International Handball

THE growth of handball in England took a major step forward last week when the newly-formed England Under-19 men’s team held a training camp at the Aarhus Sports Academy in Denmark.

Under the guidance of Head Coach and GB international Scott Harrington, the young team played three matches against a variety of teams from the Academy, which is where the majority of the GB players were based from 2007-2009.

And despite being at least three years younger than their opponents, the England team played well and drew compliments from players and coaches at the tournament who were surprised by the good standard of handball.

“We came into this camp with a clear objective: to turn enthusiastic teenagers into handball players - and for me it’s objective achieved,” said Harrington. “The lads have shown to both me and everyone involved that they have massive potential.

“As well as the two-day tournament, the team trained in different aspects of handball, including strength and conditioning, agility, core stability and injury prehab so our players could experience what it takes to become a world class handball player.”

The team also received one-to-one guidance from several of the GB players who are based out in Denmark, and Harrington added: “All the sessions proved invaluable for our boys - it’s now up to them to go away and build on what they have learnt over the past week, so we can continue to improve as individuals and as a team.”

And GB international John Pearce, who worked with the England Under-19 players during their stay, added: “This has been my first chance to see the work being put in to secure the legacy for handball in the UK that we all want.

“I have to admit I was surprised by the level of a number of the guys who came out here. They really looked like youth handball players and considering the number of obstacles in the way for handball in the UK that is quite an achievement.

“I wanted to get involved because I really believe there is potential for handball to grow in the UK. With 65 million people there is room for other sports, not just football, rugby and cricket.

“There is still a long way to go, we need to catch players earlier. We need to get kids playing the sport at the age of five or six, with appropriate coaching and facilities for the legacy to really develop after 2012. The first steps have been taken and I look forward to seeing how the journey develops.”

Table Topping Great Dane Defend Lead

REIGNING champions and play-off league leaders Great Dane take on Manchester in their penultimate play-off match of the season at Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool on Sunday.

They will be aiming to replicate the 23-15 victory they inflicted on their rivals in March, knowing that they need a win to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Second-placed Ruislip Eagles take on former leaders Salford, and while they beat their Northern rivals in their previous clash in March they will be taking nothing for granted after a long journey from London.

Finally, Nottingham University play Olympia in the day’s final clash.

The first match is Manchester v Great Dane at 1130, which will be followed by Salford v Ruislip at 1330 and Nottingham v Olympia at 1530.

Ruislip Women Face Double Header

THE two remaining unbeaten teams, Deva and Ruislip Eagles will do battle this Sunday in Manchester to see who tops their group in the Women’s EHA Cup.

The match at Sugden Sports Centre starts at 1.30pm, and for Ruislip it will be their second tough match of the weekend following their National League clash with Olympia at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Also on Saturday Deva Men will be in action in the EHA Plate, where they will play host to Oxford.