First beach volleyball. Now beach handball. Inas Mazhar describes the latest sports alteration An Egyptian seaside resort will mark a marvelous backdrop for the men's and women's beach handball world championship. El-Gouna, situated close to Hurghada, is an appropriate setting for the tournament in which 17 teams representing 12 nations are playing from 26 to 30 November. For the first time, the championships will be played under the sponsorship of the International Handball Federation (IHF). "In recent years beach handball has gradually changed from a mere fun sport to a serious kind of handball. Now, professionally organised teams are competing with passion at the highest level to win titles and appreciation," Hassan Mustafa, president of both the Egyptian and international federation, said. "The IHF is staying abreast of the developments in the sport in order to get it established." Five European teams will participate in the tournaments plus three Pan--American representatives. One participant from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania is to take part. Host Egypt will complete the field. The participating teams in Group A are: Russia, Egypt, Oman and Hungary. Group B includes Turkey, Brazil, Bahrain, Ukraine and Croatia. In the women's event, Russia, Croatia, Brazil and Japan make up Group A while Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Hong Kong are in Group B. Teams started arriving a week before the championship. The line-up of a beach handball team includes 10 players in all but the actual team in the sand comprises four players including the goalkeeper. The match is played in two halves, each 10 minutes long, as opposed to one hour in the regular game. A one-minute penalty replaces the two--minute period. Some goals receive two points like those needing special skills in the air. And if a goalkeeper scores, his goal is judged to be counted as two. Following the opening ceremony eight women's teams and nine in the men's will be competing in two groups on the artificial island of El-Zeitouna. Two courts including spectator stands and two training courts for practice are available. The sand has been hauled from Luxor 300 kilometres away. The Egyptian team prepared for the championship with an intensive training camp which started in Alexandria in September. The team, trained by Khaled Hassan, an ex- international, then moved to El-Gouna weeks ago where it played two friendly games against Russia. Yesterday, the team was cut to 10 players out of an original 20. Hassan said he selected the players according to their performance in training sessions and at friendlies. The team's stars are mainly the handball national team players Hassan Awwad, Said Hussein of Alexandria Sporting Club, Mohamed Kishk, Mohamed Abdel-Salam and the veteran Zamalek player Wael Abdel-Ati, a member of the junior team which won the world championship in 1993 in Cairo. "The team is a combination of young players and veterans," Hassan said. "I am mixing age and experience together with youth to create harmony and balance."
