AHF - Events

The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] congratulates the Queensland Team Handball Association which hosted the Seniors National Championships and all the participating handball state associations for a successful and historic event held during 24-26 October 2008.

The ‘Arena’ in the Sleeman Sporting Complex in Chandler, Brisbane which is a legacy from the 1982 Commonwealth Games, provided a good venue for the championships. ‘Arena’ is defined as the area in the central part of an amphitheatre, in which the gladiators fought. The enthusiastic play by all the participants was in keeping with this exciting scenario. Each game received much cheering from the spectators and supporters. Each goal was valiantly won.

The AHF congratulates New South Wales for winning both the men’s and women’s championships for the third year in a row.

The AHF is pleased to announce the following results:

	Women's Championships	Men's Championship's
1^st place	New South Wales	New South Wales
2^nd place	Victoria	Queensland
3^rd place	Queensland	Victoria
4th place	South Australia	Australian Capital Territory
5th place	Australian Capital Territory	Western Australia
6th place	N/A	South Australia

The 2008 Seniors National Championships will go down as a historic event in Australian handball for several reasons. In this national tournament, AHF welcomed the participation of the newly recognised Victorian handball association, “Handball Victoria”. The HV teams provided strong competition narrowly missed winning the women’s title. In an intense women’s final game between Victoria and New South Wales the title was decided by one goal after extra time.

Secondly, it was at this event that the AHF and the whole Australian handball family paid tribute to Sasha Dimitric. Sasha was duly acknowledged as the founder of Australian handball by introducing the sport in 1980 and continually nurturing it to the present time. AHF President, Alex Gavrilovic announced at the presentation that from this year a trophy named the “The Sasha Dimitric Cup” will be awarded to the National Men’s Champions. The crowd cheered and applauded as Sasha accepted the trophy and presented “The Sasha Dimitric Cup” to the New South Wales men’s team.

Sasha thanked the AHF for the recognition and expressed his appreciation to all the officials and the volunteers for their contribution over the years that enabled handball to be where it is now. He gave special recognition to the players for embracing the sport and maintaining their passion for the sport despite some challenges.

Stephen Harbort, Event Director of the 2008 National Seniors Championships also congratulated all the players and thanked all the state associations for their participation and contribution to the success of the event.

Everyone agreed that putting the medals and trophies aside, the real winner of the event is handball.