POSTED: Tuesday November 22nd 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

World class Handball comes to Olympic Park

·      Test event for London 2012 in Handball Arena, Olympic Park

·      Six international women’s teams part of London Handball Cup

·      Local residents and schools to support

The London Handball Cup, part of the London Prepares series and a test event for London 2012 sees six of the world’s top women’s teams battle it out in the new Handball Arena in the Olympic Park.
The test event, running from 23-27 November, will be used to test vital operations by London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) including testing of competition equipment, scoreboards, results, workforce and officials, all an integral part of preparation for the Games.
The event sees a strong international line as part of the first competitive action in the new Handball Arena. Great Britain, who will compete in their first Olympic Games next years as hosts, will face tough opposition in the form of Austria, Angola, China, Poland and Slovakia.
A total of 10,000 tickets over a period of five days have been donated by LOCOG to local residents, schools and colleges, providing an indication of the rising popularity of Handball in the UK.
Debbie Jevans, Director of Sport at LOCOG said “Running a test event in the Handball Arena is not only vital for us in terms of testing the venue and our operational readiness, it is also a chance for local people to witness world class sport in an Olympic venue. The Handball Arena is an amazing facility which will be used as a multi-sports venue after the Games.  It is exciting to see it being tried out competitively for the first time. “
The Handball Arena was the third Olympic Park venue to be completed in May 2011 and will have up to a 6,500 capacity at Games time. After the Games, capacity will be increased to accommodate up to 7,500 spectators as it becomes a multi-use venue for community use, athletic training and events.
For more information about the London Handball Cup visit http://www.londonpreparesseries.com
Ends

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at http://www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog http://www.london2012.com/blog or follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/london2012
Notes to editors:
Media accreditation for the London Handball Cup has now closed. For more information please email pressoperations@london2012.com
The London Handball Cup:
•    Six teams divided into two groups of three for preliminary rounds

•    Round-robin tournament within each group

•    Teams are ranked according to IHF rules

•    Teams placed 1st and 2nd in each group progress to cross-over semi-finals

•    Teams placed 3rd in each group play off for 5th and 6th place

•    Losers of the semi-finals play off for the Bronze Medal

•    Winners of the semi-finals play off for Gold and Silver Medals

LOCOG
As it heads towards its £2bn budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters - Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers - Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.
There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Supplier, Otto Bock.
The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for London 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.

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Keywords · London 2012 · Handball · Olympic Park

Name: London 2012 Press Office
Organization: London 2012 Organizing Committee
Email:
Phone: 442032012100
URL: http://www.london2012.com

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