Date:
11/17/2010
The meeting of high-level representatives of 26 international sports federations was held in Cali, Colombia, where the next World Games will take place 25 July to 5 August 2013. In the presence of the Colombian Minister of Sports Jairo Clopatofsky, the President of the Colombian Olympic Committee Balthazar Medina, the 2013 Cali Executive Committee and under the direction of the World Games Sports Director Joachim Gossow and the COC Sports Director Jose Luis Echeverry, the Technical Delegates from all international federations of the sports on the official programme met in the host city to prepare the 2013 World Games (www.worldgames2013.com.co).
The Organizing Committee gave detailed explanations related to the actions before, during and after the competitions. During their stay the representatives of the international federations - including IHF, as Beach Handball is part of the program - visited the venues at which the sports contests will be staged and discussed their expectations regarding the host city with the organizers. The World Games will take place in South America for the first time.
A total of 21 venues will be prepared during the next three years. After the visit, the Technical Delegates composed a detailed report with their suggestions. The next meeting is scheduled for September 2012.
Beach Handball, which was represented by the IHF Beach Handball Working Group member George Bebetsos (nominated as the sport’s Technical Delegate for Cali 2013), will be on the official World Games programme for the first time after being invitational sports in Akita/Japan 2001, Duisburg/Germany 2005 and Kaohsiung/Chinese Taipei 2009. The tournament in Cali will feature eight of the world's best women's and men's teams each. Beach Handball will then be hosted in the “Canaveralejo Bullfighting Ring” with a capacity of 18,000 spectators.
You can follow the news and the countdown to the Cali 2013 World Games on the IHF website (www.ihf.info) by clicking on the corresponding logo.