ANTEQUERA – Between 26 June and 3 July 2016 Antequera, an ancient city in southern Spain, will host the FISU Handball tournament. The city of Antequera, in Spain, is known as ‘the heart of Andalusia’, the southern region to which it belongs. From June 26 to 3 July of the next year it will host its third FISU World University Championship (WUC). After the 13th WUC Golf, which in 2010 accomplished a record participation of 135 golfers, the 14th WUC Futsal was protagonist in the summer of 2014. Now Handball takes up the baton.
The 41,500 habitants of this historic enclave —its foundation, under the name of ‘Antikaria’, dates back to 2000 BC— are ready to welcome the nearly 700 athletes, 30 referees and 70 volunteers who will participate in the WUC.
For Eugenia Galán, the city’s Councillor of Sports, this event is “a new opportunity to highlight the commitment of Antequera as a sports city”. Besides university championships, this Andalusian town has welcomed Spain Athletics and Table Tennis Championships and also a final of the Spanish Handball Cup.
“Our ability to organize this kind of events have resulted in success previously,” says the Councillor for Sports, “we are ready to host another one with these features”.
That is why the preparations to welcome participants and spectators are already on going. For example, the group of volunteers, “trained and experienced in events like this”, have been working “since the starting signal was given”, explains Galán. Also the Antequera hotels are getting ready to host athletes from the five continents. Its management in the past has been “great”, according to the Councillor. Countries like China, Portugal and Brazil have already confirmed their attendance.
Two venues will host the 23rd FISU WUC Handball in 2016. The ‘Athletics High Performance Centre’, where two courts will be installed, has a capacity for 2,500 spectators. Furthermore, the ‘Fernando Argüelles Pavilion’ will have seats for 2,200 attendees. These are facilities that “have all kinds of equipment and the necessary guarantees for this type of competition.”
Both the people and the government of the city are delighted to bring back a university sports event to the city. “We like to promote the touristic and sports dimension of the city and give it an international projection,” says Eugenia Galán.
The ‘Dolmen’ of Antequera —a prehistoric monument— is nowadays the only Spanish location candidate to be part of the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Despite its long history, the ‘heart of Andalucia’ is a cosmopolitan city where culture and sports goes hand in hand. After the 2016 FISU WUC Handball, Antequera will take another step to also become the heart of university sport in southern Europe.
Javi Morales, U-Media Reporter