Qatar 2015 Find Strong Northern European Partner in Partille Cup

Gothenburg, Swed, July 13 (QNA) Handball players everywhere: between 1 and 7 July Handball could be seen all over the Swedish city of Gothenburg, when the 44th edition of Partille Cup, the worlds largest and most international Handball tournament for youth, aged between 10-21 years, took place. Organiser of Partille Cup is the Swedish handball club IK S?vehof with three full-time people reinforcing a further 30 project managers prior to the tournament start. During the week the organisation consists of a total of 1500 officials. Some of these events are organised together with the European Handball Federation (EHF), the International Handball Federation (IHF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Stefan Albrechtson, IK S?vehof club director and organiser of Partille Cup was very happy with this years tournament: "Another record year including 1.120 teams from 45 countries, which means 21.000 participants. And from what we can see in the evaluations of the participating countries is that we received the best ratings ever. Enjoyable!" The tournament was visited by a Qatari delegation, which negotiated a collaboration with the Partille Cup organisers in order to promote the Mens World Championship 2015 in Qatar. The collaboration will focus mainly on Partille Cup 2014 in order to reach as many Handball enthusiasts as possible. Further discussions on a mutual marketing plan for Northern Europe will be held during the IHF Congress in October 2013 in Doha. The Qatari delegation was very content with the output of their visit. Issa Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Director of Marketing for Qatar 2015 stated from the Headquarters in Doha: "Our general impression of Partille Cup is a very favourable one. The Swedish organising committee and the International Handball Federation have done tremendous work. We want the World Championship in Qatar 2015 to be the best ever, and are very satisfied to have a new strong partner that will support us in order to reach more Handball fans." Stefan Albrechtson has great expectations for the World Championship 2015 and believes that this tournament is going to be something really fantastic: "We have already understood that hotel, food and transfers are going to be of five-star quality. Filling the arenas will be the challenge. But I believe that it will be incredibly attractive to travel to Qatar for the Mens Handball World Championship. There are many possibilities to combine for Handball supporters beside the games there is a great climate with sun, warm temperatures and beach life, as well as plenty of fabulous restaurants. Furthermore there is the great National Museum, desert safaris, golf and the fantastic market of Souq Waqif." The organiser of Partille Cup also stated that there will be many great best price packages, which would attract many people to feed their curiosity about what kind of a country Qatar is. "Handball in Qatar is on a roll forwards. It appears that Qatar has decided to be among the top nations in Asia, and with this, the country can also challenge many European teams. The Qatari Handball Association has recently shown high ambitions to bring in good coaches and to create great training opportunities and camps for their players. According to Albrechtson the two main differences between Handball in Qatar and in Sweden are firstly that Sweden has had a Handball tradition since the 1930s and Qatar since the 1970s and secondly that Sweden might have 50 to 100 times more players to select from. It is this choice that he identifies as their advantage. "But keep in mind that many countries with a smaller population still come up with great Handball results, like for instance Iceland, Slovenia, Croatia or Denmark," Albrechtson added. But there are also absolute similarities between Qatar and Sweden, the ambitions to organise events and championships, the determination to be best, the will to develop Handball to a higher level and to be leaders within the Handball family. "I am absolutely planning on going to Qatar for the World Championship 2015. As a Swede it would be great if our national team was part of the tournament, but I will definitely go to Qatar, also if Sweden fails to qualify," says Albrechtson and adds: "This World Championship is a must! (END)