IHF president predicts bright future for Chinese handball
21/8/2008 18:01
Head of world handball governing body Dr. Hassan Moustafa believed that
China would become a handball powerhouse in the foreseeable future.
"I am
astonished by the Chinese handball teams. It is difficult to establish a good
handball team in a short time, but China make it. If they continued to develop
China in such an amazing speed, I think they will be one from the top teams in
the near future," said Moustafa, President of International Handball
Federation(IHF), who was watching the Beijing Olympic handball tournament in
Beijing today.
Although finished 21st in the 2007 World Championship(WC), the
Chinese women's handball squad enjoyed a strong comeback in Beijing, trouncing
Angola and France, 7th and 5th placers in 2007 WC, in their way to enter the
final eight.
Competing in the Olympic arena for the first time, the Chinese
men's team has been a minnow in the handball world. But they showed great morale
and high potential in their Olympic debut.
Chinese handball used to have
glory during the 1980s. The men's team claimed title of the Asian Games in 1982
while the women's team cruised to the bronze podium in the Los Angeles Olympics
in 1984.
However, huge gap between training level was gradually reflected in
the results. From the 1990s, the Chinese national teams never managed to regain
continental dominance, let alone breakthrough on international level.
"The
main problem in China is that they do not have a large number of registered
players. China is a great country and handball is a great sport. We just have to
introduce handball to more Chinese people," said Moustafa, who started to run
his term in 2000.
According to Peng Ning, secretary-general of the Chinese
Handball Association (CHA), China currently has no more than two thousand
registered handball players. However, in some European countries, a city alone
may have that many handballers.
"It is the CHA responsibility to bring
handball to Chinese schools, especially primary schools and also they have to
cooperate with national medias, which is the key for promotion of the sport,"
said Moustafa of Egypt.
Lack of talented young players is another bottleneck
for the development of Chinese handball. In most traditionally strong countries
players are trained at a very early age. But in China, with strength and height
being the priorities, young players are chosen from basketball teams when they
almost know nothing about handball. The "second-hand" players have to spend much
time on the rules and fundamental skills instead of tactics.
"China need to
use the Olympic spirit after the Games. They have already raised the popularity
of handball and set up excellent courts and what they need to do is just to keep
working. I believe in the foreseeable future, China will turn to a world strong
team," Moustafa said.
Xinhua
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