A new sport is joining the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, although it will not add medals to the medal table. This is beach handball, which will be at the rings event as an exhibition sport seeking to be a boost for this dynamic form of handball.
The International Handball Federation (IHF) announced that the IHF Beach Handball Showcase will be held from July 27 to 29 at the handball mansion, headquarters of the French Handball Federation.
Beach handball already has an Olympic precedent after debuting at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018. This, added to the recent incorporation as an exhibition sport in Paris, makes this sport excited about being formally part of the next Olympic Games.
“It has very bright future”
“Beach handball is a great sport format, a great discipline. It is easy to organize and has a very strong and growing popularity among young people. It has a very bright future,” said the Sports Director of the International Olympic Committee, Kit McConnell.
What will the exhibition be like in Paris? Teams will be put together with the best players in the world. 32 men and 32 women from 18 countries who will be distributed into three teams to create a competition of four teams per gender. The fourth team will be made up of French players.