Egypt Put Finishing Touches to 2021 Men’s Handball World Championship

The Egyptian organisers of 2021 Men’s Handball World Championship are putting the final touches to the tournament.

Egypt will officially host the 27th Men's Handball World Championship being held from 13 to 31 January. 32 teams will take part for the first time in the competition's history.

World Men’s Handball Championship Egypt 2021 is the largest sport event in the world to be organized with public attendance since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, which represents a new challenge for the Egyptian as well as the international sports system.

Organizing the event shows the extent of the world's confidence in Egypt's capabilities to hold the championship on its land amid exceptional circumstances that are spreading through out the whole world.

The national teams will be competing in three venues in Cairo and one in Alexandria:

Cairo stadium Halls, the New Capital Hall that was especially built for hosting the world event, Dr. Hassan Mostafa Hall in 6th of October that was renewed for the tournament, and Borg El-Arab Hall in Alexandria.

The Egyptian Handball team will compete in Group G alongside top flight Sweden, the Czech Republic and Chile.

According to the head of Accommodation and Logistics Commission Mamdouh  Al-Sheshtawy, the LOC Coordinated with the Medical Commission and the Ministry of Health to ensure that the highest level of anti-virus measures are taken.

"The bubble system we are applying during the competition ensures the best conditions  of isolation and quarantine," Al-sheshtawy said.

Medhat Al-Beltagy, the championship Local Organisation Committee (LOC) Consultant, said that the world's attention is now focused on Egypt "and that all eyes will be looking at us as the International Olympic Committee observes (LOC) our experience and follows in our footsteps with the Tokyo Olympic Games, so we have to set an example".

Al-Beltagy added that the (LOC) had finalized preparations for the World event and that Egypt is currently ready for the event.

“All the world massive federations are following Egypt 2021 to watch the Egyptian experience and how we will be successful in organizing the World Championship. That is why Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has instructed the prime minister to remove barriers in order to make the event a spectacular one that Egypt is up to and to be an ideal model and example to be followed elsewhere," added Al-Beltagy.

In the same context, Dr. Sherif Abu Enin, head of the Volunteers Commission, said that 540 volunteers had been assigned to serve at the tournament and that each participating team will have two volunteers as moderation  team, a total of 64, in addition to 10 reserves.

"The entire world is waiting to see how things will go and how we will run the event in order to take the template and implement it elsewhere in other events," International Handball Federation President Hassan Mostafa said.

Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi affirmed that  the Supreme Organizing Committee of the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship, chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, has been closely following up all preparations made for the tournament, noting that the competition’s executive committee has good experience especially after organizing the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019, and the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations in the same year.

It’s worth noting that the Egyptian team finished 6th when Egypt hosted the tournament for the first time in 1999 and two years. Later the Pharaohs achieved their biggest success in the competition's history when they finished 4th in France.