Interim GB men’s Head Coach Ricardo Vasconcelos has named a young squad for the IHF Emerging Nations Championship in June.
The average age of the 14-man squad and four reserves for the tournament in Bulgaria is just 22 years.
The championship is an under-24 event, with three over-age players allowed. However, Vasconcelos has opted to take just two over-age players, Mark Hawkins and Steven Larsson, both 2012 Olympians. The squad features seven Under-21 players.
The squad was unlucky to lose several experienced, and also some up-and-coming players, for various reasons. Vasconcelos remains upbeat though, commenting: “our primary objective is to develop a squad for the future.
“This is a very young team and almost all of them will be eligible again for this championship in two years’ time, and some two years after that, but they have huge potential.”
With no government funding, the GB men’s programme is entirely self-funded, with both staff and players paying their own way. It is, therefore, very much appreciated that the IHF is paying the participants’ fees to travel to Bulgaria and take part in this tournament.
The GB men's squad for the Emerging Nations Championship:
Alex Bradley - Warrington Wolves
Owen Insou - Saris Val d’Europe (France)
David Klaening - IK Nord (Sweden)
Brian Lindsay - BM Alarco Ciudad Real (Spain)
Ryan Goodwin - Manchester Hawks
Ross Strachan - Livingston
Mark Hawkins - West London Eagles
Liam Welsby - Warrington Wolves
Steven Larsson - Randers (Denmark)
Tomeu Lopez-Nieto - Handbol Sant Cugat (Spain)
Jamal Braithwaite - Manchester Hawks
Stephen Clark - Warrington Wolves
Jordan Price - Nottingham
Ben Tyler - Warrington Wolves
Reserves
Dan Carden - Liverpool
Toby Venables - Warrington Wolves
Stefan Whaley - Manchester Hawks
Ben Howard - Nottingham
Photo credit: Nigel Farrow
