17th World University Men's Handball Championship
Chelyabinssk, Russia - December 28th, 2004 to January 4th, 2005
Home Advantage
The local team took the day by winning every match – quite a logical result, knowing the strength and skill of Russian handballers in general. Handball was the very first sport for which a World University Championship was organised. This was in 1963, in the Swedish town of Lund, which hosted this groundbreaking FISU event. Since that time, the discipline has proven to be a favourite among the sports included in our championship programmes since handball ties with judo for a record number of editions with 18 World University Championships.
The sport began in Germany and is played enormously in schools and universities. No doubt this is why with the very first edition, the championship reached a very good technical level. The public is also very enthusiastic about these tournaments. By and large, the organising country's team is very well prepared, and is understandably backed by a large number of fans. Only six teams made the trip for the 18th men's Handball WUC, which was the last of the championships in the 2004 season. It took place in southern Ural, in the town of Chelyabinssk, which perhaps is not the ideal spot for organising the games. Apparently, the transport costs discouraged several teams that finally decided to cancel the trip.
Two groups were constituted, so that all teams could play as much as possible, but with this organisation there were no finals. The local teams took the day by winning every match – quite a logical result, knowing the strength and skill of Russian handballers in general. Ukraine and Croatia completed the podium. It is unfortunate that this championship suffered from a lack of participation. Actually, all teams present showed excellent skills, and most of them included players who are also members of the national A-string team.
We do hope that the next edition of the World University Handball Championship will not have the same problems in Gdansk, Poland were it will be held at the end of 2006. For the first time, we will see men's and women's teams playing in the same championship games. Poland's central location should logically encourage participation of a large number of teams. The dates should also be more favourable, since this WUC will be held late June or early July. So we'll see you in 2006...
Organizing Committee
Russia, 454126, Chelyabinsk Lesoparkovaya St. 6A Russian Federation phone +7 3512 347-492 +7 3512 346-633 +7 3512 608-732 fax +7 3512 347-492 +7 3512 346-633
Final Ranking
1. RUS - Gold 2. UKR - Silver 3. CRO - Bronze 4. JPN 5. TUR 6. CHN
