Today’s guest columnist is Altay Atli, a lecturer in international relations and economics based in Istanbul, Turkey.  Altay is a former handball player, a former handball manager, a former handball journalist and forever, a handball fan.  His work involves a considerable amount of travel and the opportunity to see handball played in many parts of the world.  Hence, this article on handball in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong appears to be all about skyscrapers, financial centers and noodle shops, yet there are many other faces to the city-state, including its citizens’ keenness on and its government’s support for Olympic sports. Although handball is not a crowd drawer, at least for now, growing interest in our sports makes it likely for Hong Kong to be more visible on the international handball scene in the near future.

Handball arrived in Hong Kong during the early 1970s with students returning home from Taiwan. The league was launched and the national teams were formed in the 80s. It was in this period that both men’s and women’s national teams have competed in the Asian Handball Championship finals, an achievement that could not be repeated after 1989. After a period of hibernation, handball in Hong Kong is now back on the rise. National teams do not make it to the Asian finals, which are significantly more competitive compared to the 1980s, but they are recently obtaining good results in the international events they are taking part. One such event is the National Games of the People’s Republic China, which is kind of mini Olympic games where the provinces of China compete. Hong Kong, as a special administrative region within the People’s Republic, is taking part in these games, and in last year’s version held in Liaoning, the men’s handball team was ranked seventh, an important achievement considering the improving quality of handball in the mainland. The Hong Kong International Championships, held annually since 2001, provides another platform for the national teams to compete against international opponents, and so far strong handball countries such as Germany, Slovenia, Korea, Japan and China, as well as developing ones like Iran, Mongolia and the French region of La Reunion have taken part in this competition, enabling the teams of Hong Kong to gain international experience.

Handball leagues in Hong Kong are well organized providing the athletes with the opportunity to play as many matches as possible. There are currently four divisions in the men’s competition, and three divisions in the women’s, each division being composed of ten teams. A total of seventy teams for a small city-state of the size of Hong Kong is a significant number. Teams are made up of amateur players from Hong Kong, as well as expatriates and exchange students from European countries. Leagues run from October to April, and they are played in multifunctional indoor sports facilities as well as an outdoor court used solely for handball games. Having adequate facilities is important in Hong Kong, where space is one of the most precious commodities.

The Handball Association of Hong Kong, China (HAHKC) is the organization responsible for the development of the sports in the city-state. The association is funded by the government and its plans for the development of handball are based on two main pillars. One is the development of the player base through a systemized and well structured plan for different age groups, and the other is the attraction of larger audiences through beach handball.

The development plan of HAHKC starts with the elementary training program for kids aged 12 and younger, and the intermediate training program for under 15s. Around one hundred school children are enrolled in these programs each year through a scheme financed by the Hong Kong government. Successful athletes are promoted to district programs from where they are selected into the young athletes training program for the age group between 16 and 19. After a competitive process, better players are taken into regional squads, which undertake overseas training camps every year, such as the one in Korea in 2013 and the one in Taiwan in February 2014. These squads form the player base from which the junior and senior national teams are selected.

This hierarchical structure offers a well-designed system for choosing talents and developing capabilities and skills. On the other side of the coin, beach handball is the instrument used to breed interest for the sports among Hong Kong’s citizens. In 2013, Asian Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball Championships were held in Hong Kong, not on the sandy beaches of the Lantau island, but on a sand filled court right at the center of the buzzling town. It was a wise decision by the HAHKC, which chose to take the game to the people. A total of two thousand spectators watched the event, where the men’s competition was won by Qatar, and the women’s competition by Thailand. Hong Kong ranked fifth in both competitions.

This year the team of Hong Kong was invited to the Asian Men’s Handball Championship in Bahrain, but it could not make it there due to financial problems. Similarly, funding is needed for Hong Kong’s handball teams to compete in the XVII Asian Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea this October, but so far prospects seem bleak. HAHKC officials point out that the government’s priority is to finance “sports for all” instead of competitive events. But perhaps, at the current stage of development, this approach serves handball better. Financing young players’ build-up is definitely more crucial for the future of the sports in Hong Kong and in time sponsors can be expected to enter the scene. Until then, Hong Kong needs to continue to implement its development plan and to gain more supporters through attractive events like beach handball. “We want to play more games with teams from other countries” says Chan Ming Hong, sports executive of HAHKC, “we want to learn more.” So far it has been a successfully pursued learning process for the handball community in Hong Kong. Expect them to do more.

The IOC selection of Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympics is big news.  There aren’t a whole lot of events in the world where so many future plans hinge on a truly unknown outcome.  To the sports minded citizens of Turkey and Spain the disappointment is grand, while in Japan there is great joy.  There just simply can be no “in between” feeling for the nations involved.

And in terms of the Team Handball programs in those countries it’s roughly the same story.  Perhaps for the Spanish national teams it’s no big deal.  It’s hard to project 7 years out, but Spain will likely be in the mix for qualification without the guaranteed slot that Olympic hosting provides.  For Turkish Team Handball, however, it could have been a significant boon to their national teams to have participated in their first ever Olympics.  Neither the Turkish Men’s or Women’s programs have ever qualified for the World or European Championships, but at times they’ve shown some competitiveness.  In particular, I remember the Women’s team drawing France several years ago in a June Playoff event only to lose on aggregate in the 2nd leg.  In all likelihood an Istanbul Olympics would have given the sport a boost similar to what Greece received before and after the 2004 Olympics.  And who knows perhaps with good planning and a little luck maybe it would have led to sustained growth for the sport in that country.

For Japan it clearly is a chance for resurgence as the Women’s national team hasn’t been the Olympics since their sole appearance in 1976 and the Men’s national team, while it has been to the Olympics 5 times, it hasn’t qualified since 1988.   It’s also probably not lost on Japanese Handball that it’s no coincidence that the 1988 Seoul Olympics also marked a turning point in Asian handball to Korean domination that has now lasted a quarter of a century. Undoubtedly, the industrious Japanese are probably contemplating right now just how they might duplicate the success that the Koreans had in Seoul.

Certainly, the possibility exists and unlike the recent British effort to build off of their 2012 opportunity, the Japanese will not be starting from scratch.  At times the women have been competitive with the Koreans and they’ve been to the World Championships several times.  The men’s program has been less successful, but they can point to Daisuke Miyazaki, a talented center back who scored 104 goals during his one season in the Liga Asobal.  Miyazaki will be 39 come 2020, but perhaps the Japanese Federation will find a couple of more players to take his place in the meantime.  One such player may be 27 year old Ryota Tanimura who joined Berlin Fuchse and will be playing for the club’s 3 division team.  Interestingly, Berlin coach Dagur Sigurdsson played 3 years in Japan and still has ties with his former club there.  Perhaps the former Austrian National Team coach might be a candidate to take over the Japanese program?  Regardless, with 7 years to plan and develop it will be interesting to see if Japanese handball can take advantage of their Olympic opportunity.

Somewhat in the shadow of EURO 2012, the Asian Men’s Championship got underway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia few days ago. The Championship also serves to qualify the top three teams for the 2013 World Championships. Ten teams participate, initially playing in two round-robin groups of five teams. Japan and Korea are the only participants from East Asia. So far, there have been no real upsets. Korea and Japan have been place in what might be a tough group with Kuwait and Iran. The home team, Saudi Arabia, appears to have a more favorable draw, with Qatar as the most prominent opponent.

The positions in the groups, after each team has played two out of four games, are as follows: Group A: Japan and Korea 4 pts, Kuwait 2, Iran and Jordan 0; Group B: Qatar 4 points, Saudi Arabia 3, UAE 2, Bahrain 1 and Uzbekistan 0.

Host nation, Kazakhstan beat defending champion South Korea, 33-32 to win the Asian Women’s Championship. China beat Japan, 26-25 for 3rd place. All four nations have qualified for the 2013 World Championships as Asia had 4 spots to award.
The championship game featured two South Korean coaches and former teammates facing off against each other. Kazakhstan’s coach is Yoon Tae-il a former goalkeeper for the National Team and South Korea’s coach, Kang Jae-won, is a former right back. Both Yoon and Kang played on South Korea’s 1988 Olympic silver medal men’s team. Yoon has been with Kazakhstan since 2005 while was appointed a month ago after came South Korea, long the dominant force in Asian Handball, failed to win the competition at the Asian Games in China.

The outcome of this tournament in Kazakhstan is a far cry from the notorious Olympic Qualification tournament in 2007. Following this tournament and later the Men’s qualification tournament the outcry in the Korean press led to world-wide condemnation of the unfair officiating at both events and the eventual replay of the Olympic Qualification tournaments. Based on the reports below it appears that the Kazakhs won the tournament fair and square. And more interestingly, it also appears that the South Korean domination of Asian women’s handball is either over on hiatus.

Yonhap News (24 Dec 10): Two S. Korean head coaches meet in final of Asian Women’s Handball Championship: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2010/12/24/8/0702000000AEN20101224001600315F.HTML
Yonhap News (26 Dec 10): Korea finishes 2nd at handball tourney http://www.koreaherald.com/sports/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20101226000239
2011 Women’s World Championship Qualification: http://teamhandballnews.com/page34.html

Group A Standings
1) Kazakhstan (3-0-0) 6pts +29
2) China (2-0-1) 4pts +32
3) North Korea (1-0-2 2pts +15
4) Iran (0-0-3) 0pts -76

Group B Standings
1) South Korea (2-1-0) 5pts +71
2) Japan (2-1-0) 5pts +56
3) Uzbekistan (1-0-2) 2pts -73
4) Thailand (0-0-3) 0pts -54

Semifinals
Kazakhstan – Japan 29-24 (16-13)
South Korea – China 31-26 (13-14

Finals
Kazakhstan – South Korea 33-32 (15-14)
Japan – China (25-26) (16-15)

Final Ranking
1) Kazakstan
2) South Korea
3) China
4) Japan
5) 5th-8th placing currently unavailable
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