Is the championship in danger?
The Handball Association is requesting clarifications from the Ministry of Culture and Sports today (Thursday), following the disregard for providing support for hosting the European Youth Championship, which is scheduled to take place in the summer in Israel.
If they announce this week the cancellation of hosting the championship in Tel Aviv - it could lead to sanctions against Israeli handball.
In recent months, there have been a number of talks with the Ministry of Sports, even before the candidacy for hosting the tournament in Israel.
After clarifications that the ministry would support the hosting - there were further talks with the Ministry of Sports and no clear answer was given - and the support offered was significantly lower than expected.
The hosting of the tournament in Israel is estimated at a cost of NIS 1.4 million, while so far the ministry has not committed to a significant amount that will allow its existence.
The Handball Association fears that the announcement of the cancellation of the tournament in Israel will lead to a fine from the European Union and even removal from activity - in an era when a national handball project is taking place - and after a decade Israel's youth teams regularly played in European Youth Championships.
The youth team.
A decade of success, Photo: Handball Association
As mentioned, this morning the letter was sent to the Minister of Culture and Sports, Hili Trooper, with copies to the Minister of Finance Avigdor Lieberman, to the Minister of Tourism Yoel Rezbozov, to Simon Davidson, head of the Knesset Sports Lobby, to the Sports Administration On the cancellation of the accommodation - apart from the professional injury.
Handball Association chairman Doron Gelfand: "It can not be that until we were privileged to host such a tournament in Israel, and it happens after about twenty years that no international handball tournament was hosted in Israel, and at a time when the national team is on track - the country ignores -
"At the beginning of the process, when we clarified the desire to apply for hosting - we were promised orally - that the Ministry of Sports will stand behind us. This amount was not officially announced. "
"The amount in question will not allow us to meet the hosting costs anyway, after the handball budget has been reduced in recent years and in the current year. "Immediate intervention, and providing proper budget support so that we can hold the tournament in the country. We must answer so that we can notify the European Union, as the consequences in the event of cancellation of accommodation may be severe."
Youth team, Photo: Handball Association
The Ministry of Culture and Sports stated: "The Handball Association first submitted a request a few months ago to host the European Youth Handball Championship as part of the ministry's international events regulation. At the end of 2021 ".
"The ministry states in all the support tests and regulations that, as a rule, as long as there is no official approval from the Ministry of Sports to support this or that event, precise budgets and competition hosting are not required. When she has finished her work, there is no official confirmation of the support or the amount of support, each event is examined individually and according to its scope, the amount of support is determined, which does not always necessarily correspond to the estimates of the GPO.
These days the ministry will respond to all dozens of applications being considered, including world championships, major international sporting events, hosting major international teams from around the world and more.
The ministry will continue to keep in touch with the union as it has done so far.
The committee will convene in the coming days to discuss and examine the data and criteria in this request for support. "
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