LONDON 2012: Team GB handball men drawn to face Olympic and world champions France

By Nathan Brown, Sportsbeat

GREAT Britain's men will take on world and Olympic champions France in the group stages of the Olympic handball tournament.

TOUGH DRAW: Chris Mohr and Great Britain's handball team will take on world and Olympic champions France at London 2012 (British Handball)

They will also face matches against Olympic silver medallists Iceland, Sweden, Argentina and Tunisia in a tough pool after tonight's draw at Crystal Palace.

Great Britain have never appeared in an Olympic handball tournament but qualified as host nation - although on paper will need to defy the world rankings to progress to the knockout stages and even win a match.

The women's team will take on Olympic silver medallists Russia, Montenegro, Croatia, Brazil and Angola but have avoided Olympic champions and world Norway.

London 2012 sports director Debbie Jevans assisted with the draw and insisted Great Britain wouldn't be there to make up the numbers - despite their lowly ranking.

"The Great Britain teams have grown from literally nothing," she said.

"Six years ago they wouldn’t have been competitive and now they’re not only competitive but they’re giving themselves a shot of having a good tournament.

"You can hear it from talking to players, the national federation has top-quality coaches and some funding behind them, and it just shows that if you have the right infrastructure around a group of people, they will get better and they will succeed."

Men's Olympic handball tournament

Group A
France, Sweden, Iceland, Great Britain, Argentina, Tunisia

Group B
Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Denmark, South Korea

Women's Olympic handball tournament

Group A
Montenegro, Russia, Croatia, Great Britain, Brazil, Angola

Group B
Norway, Spain, Denmark, France, Sweden, South Korea

© Sportsbeat 2012