Great Britain’s senior men’s team travel to Portugal this week for their final preparation camp ahead of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship which is set to run from 8-16 June in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The final preparation camp takes place in Penedono, Portugal, from 1-6 June and will include physical, tactical and mental preparation for the championship as well as a couple of friendly matches against local club sides.
After the camp has completed in Portugal, the team will then travel to Georgia where they have been drawn into Group A alongside China, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Cuba and India.
GB Head Coach Ricardo Vasconcelos has named a squad of 16 players for the training camp, eight who play their club handball in Britain and eight who play across Europe. Following the completion of the camp, 15 players will be selected for Georgia.
“We have a very young team with just one player above 24 years old and that is a testament to the great work that the clubs and their staff are doing with the talent pathways,” said Vasconcelos ahead of departing for the camp. “We will be missing some players due to university exams, in addition some are still playing in their domestic leagues in Europe, but they will join us later.
“We are all looking forward to maintaining our development and measuring ourselves against opposition from around the world and with different handball styles and we hope to make GB proud and relish the responsibility that comes with wearing this shirt."
Great Britain’s men have been present at the two previous editions of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, finishing ninth in 2015 (Kosovo) and 11th in 2017 (Bulgaria) with both tournaments also seeing the British referee couple of Jason Hollis and Nick Le-Mon whistling.
All games in Georgia will be played at the Tbilisi Palace of Youth and Sport and are set to be streamed via IHF.info.
British Handball would like to express their gratitude to our hosts in Portugal, Penedono Council, for their continued hospitality and generosity.
GB Squad for Portugal
Players (15 to be selected for IHF Emerging Nations)
Craig McClelland - AGF Aarhus (Denmark)
Owen Insou - Handball Club Serris Val d’Europe (France)
Harry Morley - NEM Hawks
Brian Negrete Lindsay - VESTAS BM Alarcos Ciudad Real (Spain)
Ollie Tyler - Warrington Wolves
Chris White - VRI (Denmark)
Nate Green - Warrington Wolves
Ben Howard - Academico Viseu Andebol (Portugal)
Jordan Price - Nottingham
Ryan Thomas - Warrington Wolves
Toby Venables - Warrington Wolves
Ross Strachan - Livingston
Josh Da Silva - VESTAS BM Alarcos Ciudad Real (Spain)
Samuel Paulin - Frontignan Thau (France)
Seb Edgar - Valence (France)
Charlie Fletcher - NEM Hawks
Staff
Head Coach - Ricardo Vasconcelos
Assistant Coach - Chris McDermott
Manager - Kevin Matthews
Physio - Kris Szulc
IHF emerging Nations Championship – Great Britain schedule
All times UK (BST) (Georgia is GMT+3)
Saturday 8 June (1pm) GB vs Cuba
Sunday 9 June (11am) GB vs India
Monday 10 June (7am) GB vs Azerbaijan
Wednesday 12 June (9am) GB vs Colombia
Thursday 13 June (9am) GB vs China
Saturday 15 June Placement matches
Sunday 16 June Placement matches
