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The London Summer Games will take place from July 27th through August 12th.
High scoring and a quicksilver pace will combine to make Handball a truly thrilling team sport at the London Summer Games.
Handball is a high octane, physical contact sport that shares many of its main properties with football and basketball – only played much, much faster.
Teams of seven-a-side – six outfield players and a goalkeeper - play on indoor courts (40m by 20m) with the aim of moving the ball by hand between team-mates and hurling it in to a goal similar to those used in hockey. It’s not uncommon to see 50 goals in a single 60-minute match.
The London 2012 tournament will begin with a preliminary phase where the 12 teams, divided into groups of six, will play all the other teams in their group. The four best teams from each group will qualify for the knockout phase.
Handball players, like their counterparts in volleyball and basketball, benefit from being tall and it is common for females to be over 5ft 11in tall and men 6ft 3in and above.
Men's and women's tournaments
Venue: Handball Arena – Olympic Park (preliminaries, women’s quarter-finals); Basketball Arena – Olympic Park (men’s quarter-finals, plus all semi-finals and finals)
Dates: Saturday 28 July – Sunday 12 August
Medal events: 2
Athletes: 336 (168 men, 168 women; 12 teams in each event)