Author Archives: John Ryan

Greenland Cleared to Participate in PATHF Junior Tournament

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Greenland has received notification from the PATHF that they now will be allowed to participate in the PATHF Junior Women’s Tournament scheduled for March 10-16, in Argentina. As reported earlier, the PATHF appeared to be stonewalling Greenland by not providing scheduling information concerning the tournament. Additionally, formal correspondence between the PATHF and the IHF concerning Greenland’s membership status implied that the PATHF had not recognized the IHF Court of Arbitration ruling that Greenland should be reinstated as a full PATHF member.

The notification that Greenland received, however, dispels that notion and fully acknowledges Greenland’s right to play in the upcoming tournament. But while Greenland is cleared to play for this tournament, the PATHF still maintains that Greenland’s status as a PATHF member still needs to be fully resolved either through the IHF appeal process or other legal action. The PATHF, however, concedes that until such time a ruling reverses the current status quo, Greenland is a full member and will be allowed to participate in PATHF tournaments.

Greenland Saga Continues (Jan 08): https://teamhandballnews.com/comment-n444.html
IHF Ruling: Greenland Reinstated as Full PATHF Member (Nov 07): https://teamhandballnews.com/comment-n410.html

Pick Szeged – GOG Svendborg Video

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[html] Pick Szeged edged GOG Svendborg 34-33 in a Champions League match over the weekend. Svendborg tied the score on a fluke goal with about a minute left that left Pick Goalie Nenan Puljezevic wondering if he had just cost his team the game. He got his redemption moments later however, when he blocked a penalty shot then joined his team on the offensive end of the floor where his entry into the 6 meter area distracted the Svendborg defense leading to an easy goal and the 34-33 victory.
You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7ql72db2I
EHF feature on Nenad Puljezevic: http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2007-08/article/11157/I+analysed+all+players+years+ago
EHF write up on match: http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2007-08/article/11167/Decision+in+the+last+second [/html]

Forum Added to the Site

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[html] Recently our site got a couple of extensive post in the comments section from a couple of former USA Handball Presidents. While the commentaries were interesting they were, in my opinion, too long and not related to the story. This isn’t the first time our comments section has degenerated into long and involved discussion that‘s somewhat misplaced. While we don’t want to stifle debate, we would like, however, for the news section to remain a news section.

To solve this quandary we’ve added a forum to the website. The link is there at the top of the page and the forum will be the venue for protracted discussion and debate. When you want to vent on a particular topic and/or debate handball issues this is your venue. This doesn’t mean that you can’t comment on a particular article, but let’s try and keep the comments short and germane to the article. A great example of how the article comment section should be used is Yaz’s tip on registering for the EHF video streaming.

And of course another benefit of the forum is that you can pick the topic, within reason. All that we ask is that you keep it civil. We hope this plan makes sense and we hope that members take advantage of the forum to air their views and share information. [/html]

IHF Identifies Participants for Olympic Handball Qualifiers, but Fails to Recognize ICAS Ruling Impact

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The International Handball Federation (IHF) has confirmed which nations will participate in the Olympic Handball Qualifiers this spring. The three tournaments for the Women will be March 28-30 and three tournaments for the Men will be May 30 – June 1. Each tournament will consist of 4 teams and the top 2 teams will qualify for the Olympics in Beijing.

Missing from the IHF release, however, is any consideration as to the potential impact of the Asian Olympic Qualifier controversy on the final placement of teams. The placement of teams from Asia is based on the results of the Asia Olympic Qualifier replay tournaments that were conducted by the IHF. The Asian Handball Federation (AHF), however, does not recognize the results of those tournaments and the IHF and AHF have mutually agreed to let the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) decide on the matter. If ICAS rules in favor of the IHF, the placement of the teams should stand as advertised. Should the ICAS, however, rule in favor of the AHF the tournaments will need to be reshuffled.

For the men the change would be straightforward. If the ICAS rules in favor of the IHF, South Korea automatically qualifies for Beijing and Japan participates in Tournament 3 against Croatia, Russia and Algeria. If the ICAS rules in favor of the AHF, Kuwait would secure the automatic ticket for Beijing and South Korea would take Japan’s spot in Tournament 3.

For the women the change is not so simple. Like the men, if the ICAS rules in favor the IHF, South Korea will automatically qualify for Beijing and Japan will participate in a qualification tournament. In its recent announcement the IHF places Japan in Tournament 3 against France, Hungary and the Congo. If the ICAS rules in favor of the AHF for the Women’s tournament, however, the solution can not be a simple swap out of teams like it was for the Men. This is because South Korea placed 6th at the World Championships and by precedence earns a spot in a qualification tournament by that route, rather than its 2nd place showing in the original Asian Championship.

Further complicating things is the fact that South Korea’s 6th place finish, the highest of any non European team, also resulted in Asia being awarded 2 spots for the Olympic Qualification tournaments. Prior to the decision to conduct a replay tournament this meant that both Japan and Qatar were assigned to those tournaments. With only Japan and South Korea participated in the replay tournament, however, there was no longer a 3rd place team from Asia. The rules that the IHF laid out did not specifically state what was to be done in this instance, but the IHF appears to have decided to award this spot to the 3rd place team (Congo) from the 3rd best continent (Africa).

Here’s a summary of the results from the two Asia tournaments and their impact on Olympic qualification:

[b]Original Tournament[/b]
1) Kazakhstan (Automatic Ticket)
2) South Korea (5th place World Championships)
3) Japan (2nd Place- Asia)
4) Qatar (3rd Place- Asia)

[b]Replay Tournament[/b]
1) South Korea (Automatic Ticket)
2) Japan (2nd Place- Asia)
3) Congo* (3rd place Asia spot given to 3rd place Africa)

So, if the ICAS rules in favor of the IHF the three tournaments will be:

Tournament 1: Germany (2nd WC), Spain (7th WC), Sweden (2nd Europe) Cuba (2nd PATHF)
Tournament 2: Romania (3rd WC), Croatia (6th WC), Cote d’Ivoire (2nd Africa), Poland (3rd Europe)
Tournament 3: France (4th WC), Hungary (5th WC), Japan (2nd Asia), Congo (3rd Africa)

But, if the ICAS rules in favor of the AHF the three tournaments should be:

Tournament 1: Germany (2nd WC), Croatia (7th WC), Sweden (2nd Europe) Cuba (2nd PATHF)
Tournament 2: Romania (3rd WC), Hungary (6th WC), Cote d’Ivoire (2nd Africa), Poland (3rd Europe)
Tournament 3: France (4th WC), South Korea (5th WC), Japan (2nd Asia), Qatar (3rd Asia)

And to throw yet another wrinkle into the mix, the IHF could also decide to swap the 2nd place teams from Africa and Asia. In an IHF press release shortly after the World Championships, this swap was indeed made. Speculation was that the IHF wanted to avoid a tournament with too many Asian teams, but requests to the IHF for clarification were unanswered.

Analysis: It’s not a fait accompli that the ICAS will rule in favor of the IHF. The ICAS decision could be based solely on procedural issues unrelated to the quality of the officiating at the matches in question. Additionally, there appears to be more evidence supporting the decision to replay the Men’s tournament, so it’s quite possible that a split decision whereby the Men’s replay would be recognized, but the Women’s replay wouldn’t could be a possible outcome. Making that decision is also “easier” in that South Korea should be a virtual lock to place either 1st or 2nd in Tournament 3. The end result would be both Kazakhstan and South Korea qualifying for the Olympics. And should that happen, the odd result of this Asian controversy would be Spain getting bounced out of the Olympic Qualification tournaments. Regardless, the ICAS needs to be pressed into making a decision as soon as possible, so that South Korea, if necessary, is ready to participate in the Olympic Qualifier in France on March 28th. Of course the IHF, could schedule some more replays, but I’m guessing that is something they’ll want to avoid!

IHF Tourney Pairings Announcement (Feb 08): http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1021
IHF Tourney Pairings Announcement (Dec 07): http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=218&idart=995

Handball Video Streaming ($43 vs. Free): Hmmm…. I’ll take Free, Thank You

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It never ceases to amaze me the varied options that have been provided for watching handball video over the web in the past couple of years. You never know what you’re going to get and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the pricing strategies being employed.

Case in point is the dramatically different prices offered recently for two products from the same parent entity, the EHF. For the Men’s European Handball Championships in January a variety of packages were offered with a complete pass topping out at 29.99 Euros or $43 with the current lackluster value of the US Dollar of late. For $43 customers were subjected to shoddy customer service, appallingly poor English commentary, complete drop outs of video, and misleading pronouncements that you could watch any game on demand any time you want. And that’s just some of the problems, I put together in a 4 page missive that I wrote to the EHF asking for restitution for handball fans everywhere.

And then one week later the EHF provides Champions League matches for free. Maybe the dramatic price drop was the EHF’s way of saying sorry, but whatever the rationale, I can’t complain this time around. The bit rate is about 600 kbs which gives a similar quality to that which was seen with the European Handball Championships. Sure, I’d like the great picture that the HBL provides with 1,500 kbs and it would be nice if there was good English Language commentary, but I’ll take arena sounds over the commentary provided in Norway any time. And video on demand, that would allow me to watch the game at my leisure instead of Saturday morning would be great too. All those things would be nice, but when the price is nothing, I’m not going to complain.

Some might argue that the European Championships is a dramatically more important event and provides viewers better handball. While National team competition is compelling, particularly for the nations involved, I would argue that the Champions League is actually a better product for a number of reasons. With a few exceptions all of the World’s top players are still playing and instead of playing together as an all-star team with a couple of weeks of practice prior to the tournament they are practicing with their clubs all season. On top of that the competition is over several weeks instead of compressed into a two week tournament that doesn’t allow for sufficient rest.

So overall, I would argue that we have a bizarre situation where the free product is better then the $43 product. The EHF is offering 3 more free games this weekend. Let’s hope that this good deal continues.

AHF Yields to IHF Pressure/ ICAS to Settle Olympic Dispute

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The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) has agreed to let the IHF have the final say for officiating assignments at the upcoming Asian Handball Championships. In a letter to the Bahrain Handball Association obtained by the Gulf Daily News the IHF stated the following, “We are happy to inform you that IHF received a letter from AHF where they clearly and unconditionally accept the IHF stipulations.. We are currently preparing the travel and visa arrangements for the IHF representative, delegate and referees."

The Gulf Daily News further states that the earlier articles detailing past transgressions in Asia appearing in their newspaper helped influenced the IHF’s decision to threaten to stage an alternative Asian Qualifier for the 2009 World Championships in Croatia. As previously reported here the IHF actually released a statement indicating that the Championships scheduled for Iran next week would not be recognized by the IHF.

As far as the Olympics Qualifiers are concerned the Kyodo News service of Japan is now reporting that the IHF and AHF have mutually agreed to have the issue be resolved by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS). As the Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments are scheduled for March 28-30, the ICAS will need to move quickly to resolve the issue in time to determine the Asian participants in these tournaments.

Gulf Daily News: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=208583&Sn=SPOR&IssueID=30330
Kyodo News: http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=362501
2008 Asian Handball Championships Website: http://www.asianhandball2008.com/

The Disappearing IHF News Item

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[html] As noted in the previous news item the IHF had announced that the Asian Handball Championships would not count as qualification to the World Championships.  This news item has since been taken off the IHF website.  Here's the text in case you missed it.

"After the recent debacle in Toyota, Japan, that led to the replays of the Asian Olympic Qualifying Games at the end of January 2008, the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) refused to accept the IHF's control of the Men`s Asian Championship planned to take place in Esfahan, Iran, from 17 – 26 February. The winning team would normally qualify for the 2009 Men`s World Championship in Croatia. Following the AHF`s refusal to accept the IHF delegates` final say in the selection of the referees, the IHF had no choice but to declare that the results of this tournament will not qualify the winners for the World Championship.

As stressed by IHF President Dr Moustafa just recently during the press-conference in Lillehammer, Norway, in January, the IHF's supervision of continental qualifying tournaments had to be enforced on all the continents to ensure fairness and correctness in sport. The necessity for this measure has been reconfirmed at the Council Meeting of December 2007 and was already put into action at the Pan-American, African and European Championships.

The Asian qualifications for the 2009 Men`s World Championship will be held separately under the umbrella of the IHF. "
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AHF-IHF Confrontation Looms for Asian Handball Championships

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The Asian Handball Federation (AHF) has imposed a fine of $1,000 on the South Korean and Japanese Handball Federations as punishment for taking part in the Olympic qualification replay tournaments. The fine was the maximum that could be imposed by the Executive Committee and the AHF has indicated that further action may be taken by the AHF Council. Additionally, both Japan and South Korea must pay their fine before they can participate in the Asian Handball Championship which start in Iran on 17 February.

South Korea and Japan have both indicated, however, that they will not pay the fine. Speaking to the Yonhap News Agency, Chung Hyung-kyun, vice president of the Korean Handball Federation said, “We will not pay one won in fine as any payment will be tantamount to acknowledging the rematches were wrong, although the amount of the fine is not so big," (Note: the won is the unit of currency in Korea). Earlier reports also indicated that the Korean and Japanese team would travel to Iran for the tournament without knowing whether they would be allowed to take the court.

The latest news reported in the Gulf Times of Qatar now reports that the IHF has intervened and formally notified the AHF that the IHF will not recognize the Asian Handball Championships as legitimate unless the IHF can directly appoint officials for matches at the tournament. And if the AHF does not relent, the IHF has indicated that they will organize a separate Asian Qualifier for the World Championships. As a result of this IHF action, South Korea and Japan may simply boycott the tournament next week in Iran.

Speculation is also ensuing that the rift in Asian Handball may lead to an East-West split. According to the Yonhap report Japan and South Korea are already considering starting a new federation and Kuwaiti Men’s Coach, Friis Hansen tells Handball-World that it was his opinion that “the Europeans saw a chance to split Asia and get rid of IHF-President Hassan Mustafa.” But, there appears to be at least some cracks in support among the Arab Gulf states as Bahraini officials have called AHF actions into question as well.

Also, unclear is whether the AHF will take or has taken action to have the case reviewed by the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS). With the most senior handball body, the IHF, ruling against the AHF on both the Olympic and World Championship Qualifying events, their only course to reverse the actions is probably through the ICAS. Taking the case to ICAS, however, could simply result in an independent 3rd party validating the IHF’s decision and calling further into question the actions of the AHF leadership in recent years.

ADDENDUM: The IHF has just released a notice on their website http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1019 confirming that the tournament in Iran will not serve as the qualifier for the World Championship. And as a sign of the increasing tension the tone of the release makes no attempt to downplay the significance of this action and refers to the first olympic qualifiers as a "debacle."

Yonhap Korean News Service: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/02/06/34/0702000000AEN20080206001800315F.HTML
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/02/10/99/0702000000AEN20080210002300315F.HTML

Gulf Times of Qatar: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=200623&version=1&template_id=49&parent_id=29

The Peninsular of Qatar: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Sports_News&subsection=Handball&month=February2008&file=Sports_News2008020763849.xml

Handball-World: http://www.handball-welt.de/o.red.c/news.php?GID=1&auswahl=13211

Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20080207a1.html

EHF Offers Free Live Broadcasts of Champions League

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[html] Well, maybe the EHF is trying to make up for their less than spectacular Euro 2008 web streaming, but whatever the reason I’ll be looking forward to seeing my “favorite” team, Montpellier in action this Saturday against German side Gummersbach. This should be a good game between evenly matched teams. Sunday’s offering between French champion Ivry and German Champion Kiel will be a homecoming of sorts for Kiel’s Frenchmen Karabatic and Ohmeyer, but barring a mega performance from Luc Abalo it should be an easy victory for Kiel.

To watch the games you first need to register at the laola1.tv website: www.laola1.tv The instructions are in German, but it’s pretty intuitive as to what you need to enter. After you’ve registered, you’ll then get an email with your username and password. You can then log on to the site and change your password. As this process takes a few minutes you’re probably better off doing it now rather than game time on Saturday. 
Top 10 Reasons Why I Love……. Montpellier Handball:http://teamhandball.blogspot.com/search?q=montpellier [/html]

Men’s Pan American Championships (USA Withdraws as Host)

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[html] According to a report on the Canadian Handball Federation website, the Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) has informed member nations that the USA will no longer host the 2008 Senior Men’s Pan American Championship. The Championship was originally scheduled for 24-28 June, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia and it’s organization was being supported by the Dekalb International Training Center (DITC) in nearby Dekalb County, Georgia. PATHF nations have two weeks to submit bids to host the tournament.
The Championship tournament also serves as qualification to the 2009 World Championships and the top 3 teams will book tickets for Croatia next January. With Brazil and Argentina both heavily favored to qualify, Team USA would likely have battled the remaining nations for 3rd place. As the USA narrowly lost to Greenland in 2006, the home court edge could have played a decisive factor in this year’s championship. Additionally, concerns with defections might have resulted in Cuba deciding not to participate. Now with the Championships moving to a TBD country the USA will have neither home court and the Cubans will be the odds on favorites for 3rd place.

This is the second time in recent history that the USA was scheduled to host a Pan American Championship only to see the tournament moved to another country. The 2005 Women’s Championships were scheduled for Cortland, New York, but were moved due to visa complications for visiting nations.  Just this past Summer, Mr. Marc Daniel Gutekunst of the DITC traveled to Brazil to present the PATHF Exec Committee with their plans to host and according to VP-PATHF North America, Dennis Berkholtz they received unanimous support from the committee.
Team Handball News is not certain as to the exact reason for the USA withdrawal, but Email correspondence with the Greenland Federation indicates that it was somehow related to TV broadcast requirements. As the USOC has not decided on whether to certify a new USA Handball Federation there is no official body to address this issue. A request for information from the DITC has so far been unanswered.

Canadian Website Notice: http://www.canadianhandball.com/2007 PATHF Exec Committee Notes: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.359 [/html]

Bahrain Handball Official Speaks Out Strongly Against Asian Federation

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[html] The Gulf Daily News in Bahrain, Mohammed Abul, has published two stories which allege that match fixing is nothing new for the Asian Handball Federation. The text of the articles is below.

Bahrain 'victim of match-fixing for 10 years'
By PATRICK SALOMON http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=207743&Sn=SPOR&IssueID=30321

BAHRAIN has been a victim of match-fixing in every continental handball competition for more than 10 years, it has been claimed.

Bahrain Olympic Committee member and former Asian Handball Federation (AHF) first vice-president Mohammed Abul says that cheating has been commonplace in all AHF-controlled tournaments since the appointment of current AHF president Sheikh Ahmed Al Fahad Al Sabah in 1993. The benefactors are usually the national team of Sheikh Ahmed's home country Kuwait and the next one or two "highest bidders".

"The AHF is corrupt," Abul told the GDN in an exclusive interview yesterday. "They like to use no-name referees, bribe them to manipulate match results and then pay them for the dirty work. Our national team has suffered many defeats because of this."

Abul noted that Bahrain had in the past been offered the same favours, but officials have always refused to pay any amount.

One of the main AHF competitions which has been rigged over the years is the Asian Men's Handball Championship. The tournament is the continent's premier event, and it acts as the qualifying competition for the world championships.

After 1993, Kuwait has won every single tournament, with exception to the 2000 competition when it did not take part.

Abul resigned from his AHF post after the arrival of Sheikh Ahmed.He has only decided to come forward now after the International Handball Federation (IHF) recently ordered that the upcoming Asian championships this month will be an IHF-supervised event.

"The right people are finally acting on the matter," he said. "It has gone neglected for too long."

A catalogue of referee errors By PATRICK SALOMON
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=207751&Sn=SPOR&IssueID=30321

An analysis published by the IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission (PRC) after the 2002 Asian Men's Championship, showed that there were plenty of officiating discrepancies in matches throughout the competition. Kuwait won the tournament, followed by runners-up Qatar and Saudi Arabia.Evidence of foul play in Asian handball is available in many forms, Bahrain Olympic Committee member Mohammed Abul says.

The proof ranges from official International Handball Federation (IHF) documents to previously broadcast match footage available on popular video-sharing website YouTube.

From one of the PRC reports made available by Abul to the GDN, a match between Bahrain and Qatar featured 16 refereeing mistakes in the first-half alone, and 13 of those mistakes were against Bahrain. "This proportion is so clear that there is an impression of an incorrect referee performance," said the report.

Another PRC report then indicated that the same referees later officiated a match between South Korea and Saudi Arabia in the same competition. A staggering 21 officiating errors were noted, 18 of which favoured the Saudis.

Based on the findings, the IHF recommended that the referees be suspended for three years, although it was later believed that the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) did not follow these orders.

Other evidence showed that during the Doha Asian Games in 2006, two referees from Kuwait who had been banned by the IHF were allowed by the AHF to officiate the semifinal match between South Korea and Qatar. The referees were said to have done their part with many questionable calls, and the hosts won 40-28.
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Asia Olympic Qualification Replay (South Korea Men Beat Japan)

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[html] The South Korean Men beat Japan 28-25 in Tokyo to directly qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games. Japan will still have a longshot opportunity in an Olympic Qualification tournament in May, but they will likely need to beat Russia or Croatia in order to place 2nd and qualify through that route.

Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets are starting to report on the controversy surrounding the replays. Reuters reports that the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) will meet next week to decide on whether to expel South Korea and Japan for taking part in the replay tournament and whether to appeal to the International Arbitration Council. AHF President, Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, who is also head of the Olympic Council of Asia, has also reportedly threatened to derail Tokyo’s bid for the 2016 Olympics as punishment. IOC President Jacque Rogge commented on the controversy yesterday saying that the IHF would not take sides in the dispute and that it should be resolved by the IHF’s rules for appeal.

On the positive side, the Korean Handball Movie, “Forever the Moment” could probably not have been released at a better time. Fed by the real world controversy the biopic on South Korea’s 2004 Women’s Team has been the top box office movie for 3 weeks.
Reuters Article: http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-7267279,00.html
Associated Press: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/wires/01/29/2080.ap.eu.spt.oly.handball.dispute.0410/index.html
Reuters Article on Korean Movie: http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUKSEO10310020080130?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true [/html]

Asian Olympic Qualification Replay (South Korea Women Beat Japan)

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[html] The South Korean Women have defeated Japan 34-21 to directly qualify for the 2008 Olympics.  Japan will take part in one of the Olympic Qualification tournaments.  The exact composition for the 3 Olympic Qualification tournaments is TBD.  The IHF had swapped out the 2nd place African and Asian teams previously and there now is no 3rd place Asian team.  More background on the placement of teams is at https://teamhandballnews.com/page18.html

Korea Yonhap News Service Article:
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/01/29/27/0702000000AEN20080129007900315F.HTML

IHF Article: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1014

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