In July and August 2017, the up and coming handball talents get their chance to shine when the world’s best men’s youth and junior teams take to the court.

 

Today, 10 May 2017 the groups for the 2017 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in Georgia and the 2017 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Algeria were determined. Both draws were conducted by Per Bertelsen, Caretaker Chairman of the IHF Commission of Organising and Competitions (COC), assisted first by Georgia’s President Mr Zurab Kakabadze and Secretary General Mrs Ketevan Koberidze and later on by Qatar’s junior team manager and former IHF referee Youssef Mohamed Alhail.

 

The Men’s Youth World Championship will take place from 8 to 20 August in Tbilisi and reigning champions France are eager to defend their title. However, there are many teams to be reckoned with and we have a lot of thrilling matches ahead. “Group A with France, Denmark, Sweden and Norway – these are going to be exciting matches,” said Bertelsen. “Group A and D are the most challenging groups. But it is a world championship and you never know how the teams perform. In addition, this is a youth world championship and we don’t know yet how strong the teams actually are.”

 

The results of the draw are as follows:

 

Group A: FRA, DEN, SWE, BRN, EGY, NOR

Group B: GER, ISL, GEO, CHI, JPN, ALG

Group C: CRO, ARG, BRA, POR, VEN, KOR

Group D: SLO, ESP, SRB, TUN, RUS, MEX

 

As hosts, Georgia were directly qualified and they want to use the chance to promote the sport in the country. The team have been preparing for months to perform well on home ground, even years taken into consideration that they already participated in the 2015 Youth Olympic Festival, which was also hosted by Georgia. “This is the team who accumulated experience in international matches quite a lot, so we hope they will do their best,” said Kakabadze.  

 

The men’s junior teams face each other from 18 to 30 July in Algiers and here again, the world’s best teams will try to dethrone France. The draw has brought some interesting results but no group which stands out as the COC Caretaker Chairman explains. “There’s no group I would consider a so-called Group of Death.”

 

The result is as follows:

 

Group A: GER, NOR, FAR, HUN, KOR, CHI

Group B: FRA, DEN, QAT, EGY, SLO, SWE

Group C: ESP, TUN, MKD, BRA, BUR, RUS

Group D: CRO, ISL, ALG, KSA, ARG, MAR

 

For Qatar it is a challenging group. “After this draw we must work hard,” said Alhail. Their next step on the road to Algeria is a two-week training camp in Spain.