The Opening Ceremony of the 9th European Universities Handball Championship officially kicked off the championship on July 3 in Antequera, Spain. The event is hosting 12 male and 10 male teams representing 21 universities from 12 countries in Europe.

Mr Jose Angel Narvaez, Chancellor of the University of Malaga welcomed all the players and highlighted the importance of sport in their education. He also opened up the doors of the institution and of the province of Malaga for them to broaden their experience in this Championship. The Major of Antequera Mr Manuel Baron welcomed the players by presenting all the possibilities the city has to offer and how deeply this city is linked to sport.



Finally, Mr Kemal Tamer, Vice-President of the European University Sports Association (EUSA) as Chair of the event’s Supervision, Control and Arbitration Commission (SCAC), welcomed the authorities and officially declared the Championship open, highlighting the university sporting spirit that must govern the whole event.



On behalf of the athletes Carlos Castillo from the University of Malaga expressed the commitment to respect the fair play and the honour of each country. Likewise, on behalf of the referees, Anna Palmqvist took the oath which commits them to referee each match in an unbiased way and respecting the rules.



To conclude the Opening Ceremony, the Spanish dance group “Baruca Acrobática” performed brilliantly in front of the audience.



The competition is held with close cooperation with the European Handball Federation (EHF) and is, like other EUSA events, also promoting the #beactive campaign and the European Week of Sport.



On July 3, the event also saw the first competition day with matches being played in different venues. The local organising committee is also offering live webstreaming, so head on to http://handball2017.eusa.eu to check it out!