While the Olympic handball tournament is off to a fascinating start, their sun-soaked cousins in beach handball have been strutting their stuff at the fringes of the games, at the IHF Beach Handball Showcase.
Taking place at the Maison du Handball on the outskirts of the city, 64 of the world’s best beach handball players have been divided into six teams, three men’s and three women’s, taking on each other and the French national teams over three days.
I spoke to two players who have been competing at a high level both as indoor and beach players in recent years, Germany’s Lucie-Marie Kretschmar and USA’s Drew Donlin. Kretschmar is a two-time reigning world champion and plays her handball with HSG Bensheim / Auerbach, runners-up in last season’s Bundesliga, while Donlin has club experience with Ademar Leon and is part of the USA indoor team gearing up for a home Olympics in four years’ time.
You can hear the interviews below in the video report, where both players share their experiences from the showcase so far, hopes for Olympic involvement and what the sport’s unique selling points are.
On Saturday evening, a number of high-ranking sporting and political figures are said to be attending the matches and an accompanying gala dinner as the IHF makes its push towards Olympic inclusion.
Among the challenges beach handball faces is the Olympic athlete limit for each games and a no-compromise approach to the potential of reducing the number of indoor players involved to make room for the beach sport.
Each Olympic Games has up to six optional sports to add to the programme. While 2028’s is set and Brisbane 2032 will see a swathe of Commonwealth-popular sports such as cricket and rugby league attempt to join the party.
The word on the sand is that the best bet may be if Doha stages a successful bid for 2036 – a sporting lifetime away for the athletes on the sand this week, who appreciate that their efforts are not strictly for themselves, but for future generations of athletes in the sport they love.
Monday is the final day of the showcase and can be watched live on the IHF YouTube channel.