The 2017 Busan International Friendly Tournament was held from
August 19 to 23 in Busan, South Korea – and it was a truly international event
with teams from all over the world competing. The women’s national squads from
Australia, the USA and Taiwan took part, along with club teams such as Hungarian
ÉRD HC,
Danish Aalborg and hosts Busan Bisco.
ÉRD claimed the trophy at the conclusion of the round-robin competition, with
Busan Bisco coming in second and Aalborg placing third – but the tournament was
valuable for much more than the results on court.
“The Busan International Women's Friendly
Tournament has been an excellent experience for our women's team. The team has
grown both on and off the court,” said Australia coach Adrian van Bussel. “Although
the results were not in our favour, the girls have improved out of sight and
always managed to achieve the goals that we set together before our matches.”
“Our goal was to learn from a different culture,
both from a handball and a human perspective,” said ÉRD coach Szabo Edina. “The
team building aspect of this trip was very important for us, as we have big
objectives this year in the EHF Cup, and the discovery of this new style was
key to broaden our horizons and strengthen our team from an international
standpoint.
“Moreover, we believe such an event was of great
importance to help popularise women’s handball throughout the world, notably in
countries with immense potential such as the USA, where handball is currently
in its developmental phase. For this reason, we collaborated with Mr Kang [of
the local organising committee] to organise a conference where we discussed the
situation, issues and opportunities of women’s handball in the various regions
present. The initiative was very successful.
“We hope we can continue in such a cooperative direction in the future to
strengthen the position of this sport in the worldwide ecosystem,” concluded
Edina.
“We are so grateful to the Korean
Handball Federation and their invitation to the Australian women's team to participate
in this tournament,” added van Bussel. “The girls have had a taste of high-level
handball and now know how hard they have to work at home.”
Photo: ÉRD HC