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Beach handball to make European Games debut in Poland

20.06.2023 16:00
More than 7,000 athletes from 48 countries are expected to compete in the 3rd European Games, a major multi-sport event that begins in the southern Polish city of Kraków on Wednesday.
Audio
Iwona Niedźwiedź
Iwona NiedźwiedźPAP/Tomasz Wiktor

A total of 370 Polish athletes, 188 men and 182 women, have been selected to take part in the event, which will take place in Kraków and 12 other southern Polish cities from June 21 to July 2.

Poland will be represented by athletes competing in 29 sports, including 46 track-and-field contestants, 29 canoers and kayakers, and 24 fencers.

Poles will also be competing in less well-known sports such as beach handball, which will be making its debut at the European Games ahead of an Olympic debut in Paris next year.

"Many people in Poland are more and more interested in beach handball," Iwona Niedźwiedź, a member of the Polish national beach handball team, told Radio Poland's Danuta Isler.

She added: "It is going to be an official Olympic discipline in Paris 2024 and when you play in front of the home crowd it's the best thing for a player. So come and cheer for us."

Joanna Niedźwiedź będzie gościem najbliższego wydania "Trzeciej Strony Medalu" Iwona Niedźwiedź. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa

Click on the audio player above to hear the interview.