In a day-long meeting at Heathrow, Moustafa and Tor Lian, the President of the European Handball Federation (EHF), both vowed to offer whatever help and support was necessary to ensure that the sport grows in popularity in Britain and across the English-speaking world.

They also met  Liz Nichol, the chief operating officer of UK Sport, and representatives from Sport England and the London 2012.

Moustafa said: “We hope that we can work closely together and to the same goal and direction.

"We have come here to help and support British Handball in their efforts to field two teams at the Olympics, and also to make the game more popular.

"We all have to work together and in the same direction.

"Time is short until the Olympics, so we have to work hard.

"Handball is a very attractive sport, and we are always one of the most popular sports at the Olympics.

"We have a very good product, but we have got to be good businessmen and sell it.

"We are ready for the challenge.

"We all have to work together to develop handball in this great country.

"The Olympics gives us a great opportunity, but we must not stop after the Games."

Lian said: “This challenge is something really special.

"Everyone wants to make their home Olympics a big success, but for us this is a great chance to show people what a great sport handball is.

"We need the backing of the people to do that, but I am sure they will love the sport once they see it."

The meeting also heard from England Handball and the Scottish Handball Association about their efforts to increase participation in handball at a grassroots level - efforts which are bearing fruit both sides of the border.

Mike Briers, the chairman of England Handball, reported a three-fold increase in the number of children playing handball since 2007, with an estimated 30,000 playing the game.

Courses to increase and improve the standard of refereeing are also being planned by England Handball, who are also putting in place a performance pathway to help develop talented youngsters into future British internationals.

From the Scottish Handball Association, chairman Stevie Neilson also spoke enthusiastically about the growth of handball, with an estimated 4,000 children are regularly playing the sport.

Scotland have also split the country into seven regions, and are planning to improve coaching standards to ensure everyone who wants to play handball can do so without having to travel long distances.

British Handball Performance Director Lorraine Brown gave a briefing to the the guests on the latest efforts to make both the men’s and women’s teams competitive in time for the 2012 Olympics.

British Handball chairman John Brewer also underlined the commitment of all parties to the task in hand.

He said: "There are people from across the world who live in this country, particular in the capital, and they are looking forward to seeing handball played at their home Olympic Games.

"We’re fully committed to having two competitive teams at 2012, but also we’re committed to leaving a lasting legacy for the future.

"It’s not all plain sailing, we know we have a lot of issues to address – especially financially – but we’re determined to achieve our aims."


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