It’s their last chance to book a ticket to London, it’s crunch time for the Men’s Olympic Handball Tournament: Twelve nations compete this weekend (6 – 8 April) in three venues for the last six places of the Men’s Olympic Tournament (28 July – 12 August).  The two best ranked teams from each of those tournaments will book their tickets to London. The draw for the Preliminary Rounds will take place in London at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Wednesday, 30 May.

Thanks to their ranking at the 2011 World Championship, Spain, Sweden and Croatia are the hosts of those tournaments – and the three national handball federations chose Alicante (Spain), Gothenburg (Sweden) and Varazdin (Croatia) as the venues for those Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

 

The way to those tournaments was quite different for the participating nations – six of them qualified from the 2011 World Championship in Sweden and six from their continental qualification tournaments.

 

In 2008 the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments were played in Poland, France and Croatia – and all three hosts qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing. Aside three additional European teams (Iceland, Russia and Spain) booked their tickets to China ahead of teams like Argentina, Tunisia (this year already qualified as continental representatives) or Japan and Algeria (both again qualified for the Olympic Qualification Tournaments).

 

Tournament 1 (in Spain):
Spain will face Poland, Serbia and Algeria in Alicante.

Spain qualified as bronze medallist of the 2011 World Championship in Sweden. If the Iberians make their way to London they are part of the Olympics for the tenth time – their best results were two bronze medals in 2000 and 2008.

Serbia surprised as the host of the 2012 European Championships – taking the silver medal and the first continental place for Europe in the Olympic qualification process. Since splitting from Montenegro it has been the first chance for the Serbs to proceed to the Olympics. Top stars like Darko Stanic or Momir Ilic have to show that they are not only strong with the loud support at home – especially in the duels with Spain and Poland.

The Polish team, which ranked fifth in Beijing, was the last to reach these tournaments. They had to wait until the final whistle of the 2012 EURO final (won by Denmark against Serbia). If Serbia had become European Champion (and in this case had directly qualified for London) Poland would have been out. As Denmark achieved the direct qualification, the team of coach Bogdan Wenta qualified as the eighth ranked team of the 2011 World Championship.

Algeria is the underdog in this tournament in Alicante. The North Africans – four-time Olympic participant in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996 – qualified as silver medallist of the African Championship after losing the final against Tunisia. In the semis in Rabat, Morocco, Algeria surprisingly eliminated Egypt. 

This is the match schedule for this tournament:

Friday 6 April:
17:30: Poland vs. Algeria
20:15: Spain vs. Serbia

Saturday 7 April:
17:30: Serbia vs. Poland
20:15: Algeria vs. Spain 

Sunday 8 April: 
17:30: Serbia vs. Algeria
20:15: Spain vs. Poland


Tournament 2 (in Sweden):
Sweden will face Hungary, Brazil and FYR Macedonia in Gothenburg.

Three European and one Pan American team go for two tickets in the nearly sold-out Scandinavium in Gothenburg. The venue of the 2011 World Championship will accommodate up to 20,000 handball fans in three days – all of them hoping to see their team to go on to London.

The three-time Olympic silver medallist (1992, 1996, 2000) is eager to proceed, as Sweden missed the last two Olympics in Athens and Beijing. In 2008 they were eliminated in a nail-biting thriller against Iceland with a last-second goal. With nearly all top stars (except Jonas Källman) on board, the Swedes hope to continue the success they had 14 months ago, finishing fourth at their “home world championship”.

Hungary qualified as seventh ranked team of the 2011 World Championship. In their Olympic history (seven participations) the Hungarians four times missed a medal very closely, every time ranking fourth in the end.

FYR Macedonia is another surprising team – and a ticket to London would mean the first ever team sports participation in the Olympics for the Balkan country with only two million inhabitants. The Macedonians – led by world star Kiril Lazarov – qualified for this tournament as fifth ranked team of the 2012 European Championship, leaving behind teams like Germany, France, Russia, Iceland or Poland.

After four straight tickets to the Men’s Olympic Handball Tournament the Brazilians now have to march through the qualification after losing the final of the Pan American qualification in Guadalajara against Argentina. Due to the tough opponents from Europe, the 21^st ranked team of the 2011 World Championship is only in an outsider position.

This is the match schedule for this tournament:

Friday 6 April:
14:45: Hungary vs. FYR Macedonia
17:00: Sweden vs. Brazil

Saturday 7 April:
13:45: Brazil vs. Hungary
16:00: FYR Macedonia vs. Sweden

Sunday 8 April: 
14:45: Brazil vs. FYR Macedonia
17:00: Sweden vs. Hungary




Tournament 3 (in Croatia):
Croatia will face Iceland, Japan and Chile in Varazdin.

The only tournament where three continents will face each other is played in the 2009 World Championship venue Varazdin. The host – 1996 and 2004 Olympic Champion – belongs to the favourites together with the team from Iceland. Both met in the 5/6 placement match of the 2011 World Championship, closely won 34:33 by the Croats, who secured the right to host an Olympic Qualification Tournament with this victory.

Both teams faced during the 2012 European Championship in Serbia, too, when the Croats won 31:29. In the end, the Balkan team secured the bronze medal, whereas Iceland ranked tenth. At the 2008 Olympics both teams were semi-finalists, but while Iceland beat Spain (and took the silver medal in the end), Croatia failed against France and also missed the bronze medal due to a defeat against Spain in Beijing.

Four-time Olympic participant Japan qualified as second ranked team of the Asian Olympic qualification after losing the final against host Korea in Seoul. The “Nippon boys” finished 16^th at the 2011 World Championship in Sweden – six places ahead of Chile. The South Americans ranked third at the Pan American Olympic qualification after beating the Dominican Republic 27:24. Pan America received a second continental place for the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments as Argentina was the best non-European team at the 2011 World Championship, ranking twelfth in the end. 

This is the match schedule for this tournament:

Friday 6 April:
18:00: Croatia vs. Japan
20:15: Iceland vs. Chile

Saturday 7 April:
16:00: Chile vs. Croatia
18:15: Japan vs. Iceland

Sunday 8 April: 
15:30: Japan vs. Chile
18:00: Croatia vs. Iceland