Danish handball men hope to copy the women

By Rasmus Nord Jorgensen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Taking up where their female counterparts left off, Denmark's men's handball team hope to finally win Olympic gold next month.

Inspired by a European title win, after years of near-misses in major competitions, the men believe their turn has come.

Denmark have won Olympic handball gold at the last three Games -- with the women's team.

The men could only watch, having failed to qualify for all three Games. In other major competitions they developed a semi-final jinx, losing at that stage to Germany in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 European championships and to Poland at the 2007 world championships.

They finally broke the spell in January, taking European gold after getting their revenge on the German team in the semi-finals. Now they are after a first Olympic medal.

The men will carry a nation's hopes after the women's team, which is being rebuilt after a change of generation, failed to qualify for Beijing.

"We are going for the gold," coach Ulrik Wilbek told Reuters. "Since we won the European championship and since we have a good team, we would be disappointed if we don't get any medals."

Denmark looked in great shape last month as they routed African champions and fellow Olympic Group B competitors Egypt 38-27 and 34-21 in their first two training matches.

"We have a really, really strong team, if we can avoid injuries," said Wilbek, the most successful Danish coach of all time. He led the women's team to European, world and Olympic golds in the 1990s before starting to coach the men in 2005.

STRONG LEAGUE

Handball is big in Denmark, especially in Jutland. The European championship final attracted 2.2 million television viewers in a country of 5.4 million.

Denmark has the strongest women's league in the world, a fact which some say hampers the development of the national team as homegrown athletes have to compete for club places with highly talented, imported players.

Sailing, rowing and badminton are the only other sports to have provided gold for Denmark at the last four Olympic Games but Danes have got over the disappointment of seeing the demise of their women's handball team and have faith in the men's side.

Egyptian team manager Mahmoud Mahmoud said Denmark's strength was their combination game, along with having the best goalkeeper in the world in Kasper Hvidt.

"The Danish team is very strong, very fast and very disciplined," Mahmoud told Reuters, adding that their opponents would need a good defense and to be fast on the break if they were to beat them.