Important step for the development of Beach Handball: The International World Games Association (IWGA) announced at the SportAccord Convention in London that Beach Handball will be in the official sports programme of the next World Games 2013 in Cali/Colombia. Beach Handball was already on the programme as an invitational sport in Akita (Japan) 2001, in Duisburg (Germany) 2005 and in Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei) 2009.
A total of 32 sports will be showcased at the multi-sport event in the Colombian city with its 1.5 million inhabitants from 25 July to 4 August 2013. During the ten competition days more than 180 medal events will be on the programme. The IWGA expects that more than 3,500 athletes from around 100 countries will fight for the medals at the ninth edition of the World Games 2013.