Stage set for 'best-ever' handball world championships
Jan 17, 2007 - 11:43:20 AM
|
|
|
'It's important for the development of handball so that the federations from Africa, Asia and Latin America don't play just two or three matches and then go home,' he said.
|
By DPA,
[RxPG] Hamburg, Jan 17 - After the euphoria of last year's football World Cup Germany is hoping for another fairytale tournament when the men's handball world championships begins Friday in Berlin.
Already the event is expected to beat all records, with virtually all 300,000 tickets sold for what will be the largest tournament since it began in 1938.
'Our aim is for this to be the biggest and best world championships of all time,' Ulrich Strombach, president of the German Handball Federation, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur -.
'It is already the biggest. Whether it will the best is for others to say when it's over.'
Hosts Germany are hoping to generate the same sort of atmosphere at the 12 venues as was experienced last summer when the whole country seemed to party during the four-week football World Cup.
The popularity of handball in Germany and the country's organisational talents will ensure a memorable tournament, International Handball Federation - president Hassan Moustafa believes.
With home support, the hosts will at least be going all out to better the performance of the national football team who finished third in the World Cup.
Under coach Heiner Brand, the Germans, who begin the tournament against Brazil Friday in Berlin, are seeking to win the world championship for a third time and the first since West Germany claimed the title in 1982.
However, the competition will be tough in a 24-team tournament involving a record 92 matches in 17 days.
Spain, defending the title won two years ago in Tunisia, Olympic champions Croatia, the runners-up in 2005 and winners in 2003, European champions France and fancied Denmark are among the teams with high hopes of lifting the trophy in Cologne Feb 4.
'The great aim is to be world champions. We are capable of winning, but there are about seven others who can say the same,' said Germany captain Markus Baur.
Brand meanwhile rejects any comparison with former football national team coach Juergen Klinsmann, but believes playing at home could inspire his team in the same way as it carried Klinsmann's side last summer.
'They demonstrated that they were a unit both on and off the pitch. And they showed how you can cope positively with the pressure which is on everyone at a world championships in your own country,' he said.
The tournament modus has been changed to play a quarter-final stage for the first time since 1995, while a President Cup has been introduced as a consolation prize.
Teams play in six groups of four with the first two in each group advancing to two groups of six, while the third and fourth-place teams go into the Presidents Cup.
The first four teams in the two groups of six will then qualify for the quarter-finals when the tournament goes into a knock-out stage.
IHF president Moustafa said the new modus would make the tournament more attractive to spectators.
'It's important for the development of handball so that the federations from Africa, Asia and Latin America don't play just two or three matches and then go home,' he said.
With matches being televised in 145 countries, the IHF is convinced interest in the sport will be greater than ever before. 'I am certain this will be the best world championships ever,' he said.
|
Subscribe to Europe Newsletter
|
|
E-mail Address:
|
|
Feedback
|
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send
any medical news or health news press releases, use
feedback form
|
Top of Page
|
