In a quick turn of events, on Tuesday evening, we received an official wild card invitation from our World Federation, the IHF, to compete in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Budapest for the GB Senior Women's squad. The team travel today to Debrecen, Wednesday 10th April with matches beginning on Thursday 11th, before returning on Monday 15th April.
This is one of 3 Olympic Qualification events that are taking place, scheduled between 11 and 14 April.
The three women’s tournaments are hosted by Debrecen in Hungary, Torrevieja in Spain and Neu-Ulm in Germany.
While the competitions in Debrecen and Torrevieja, the Olympic Qualification Tournaments #1 and #2 are scheduled to be played on 11, 12 and 14 April, the Olympic Qualification Tournament #3 in Neu-Ulm will take place on 11, 13 and 14 April.
Great Britain will replace Cameroon in Tournament 1 in Debrecen, and as a direct replacement there will be no further change of the match schedule.
Thursday 11th April: Hungary VS Great Britain Local Time - GMT 13:30
Friday 12th April: Japan VS Great Britain Local Time - GMT 18:30
Sunday 14th April: Great Britain VS Sweden Local Time - GMT 14:40
Selected Team
| First Names | Surname |
| Anna | Rayner |
| Camilla | Salter |
| Clio Adriana | Stephanides |
| Daniella Beth | Davies |
| Floran | Steeples |
| Georgina Anne | Gowland |
| Hannah | Saunders |
| Heidi | Warren |
| Holly | Luke |
| Katherine Emma | Kesselring |
| Lea Jean | Davies |
| Lucy | Thornewell |
| Marta | Tubacka |
| Sophie | O'Sullivan |
| Teresa Siobhan Isabella Angelina | Woodiwiss |
| Zoe | Lacour |
Staff
Head Coach: Mark Hawkins
Assistant Coach: João Castro
Assistant Coach: Luke Jennings
Team Manager: Liz Roberts
Physio: Zoe Gerrard
We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the IHF for providing us with this incredible opportunity, and for seeing Great Britain as a nation for the future in international handball.
We also want to extend our thanks to the EHA for allowing staff members to cancel their schedule to support the team attending this event. Without the collaboration between our organisations, this wouldn't have been possible.
Our final incredible thanks goes to those staff and athletes (and those supporting these people), that within a few hours notice were able to confirm their availability and book flights to travel and compete in this competition.
Head Coach, Mark Hawkins says: "The Great Britain women's team are firstly very grateful to the IHF to be given this opportunity to compete in such a prestigious tournament. We are proud that they trust us as a developing nation to enter this competition, and we will use the opportunity to gain invaluable experience at the top level of handball.
Our squad is young but full of promise and motivation. We have a good generation that we hope to take forward in the coming years, and this will be a massive opportunity to accelerate this development. We are excited by the challenge ahead in Hungary."
Free live stream: For all territories without rights-holder agreements, all matches will be streamed live via the official IHF - Competitions YouTube channel.
Television rights-holders: Geo-blocking will apply on the IHF – Competitions YouTube channel, check local station listings, some broadcasters may not show every match live.
For more information of the Olympic journey to Paris, please see the recent IHF news piece here
