HANDBALL

Handball is big in Denmark. Since Scandinavians haven't yet realised that football is a winter game (they stop playing it between October and March), handball is the sport of choice during the dark months here. Every small town has its own sports hall, where they play handball and badminton.

It helps if your national team is good at it. The Danish women won the Olympic title three times in a row from 1996 to 2004, and the European championships, widely held to be the most difficult of all, in 1994, 1996 and 2002 (Norway has since won the latter four times in a row). While the men won the 2008 European championships, and have won minor medals at various world championships during the past decade. Yesterday the men's team were in their first world final since 1967, just across the Øresund in the Swedish town of Malmö. Unfortunately, they were up against the reigning world, Olympic and European champions France. After a pulsating final in which Denmark equalised in the last second to make it 31-31, France pulled away in extra time to win 37-35.

However, if handball is big in Denmark and other continental countries, it is decidedly "unbig" in Britain. I can vaguely remember seeing it at the Olympics on television as a boy; but the first time I saw it live was when I went on an exchange to Germany as a 14-year old, and my exchange partner played it. A cross between basketball and five-a-side football, it seemed a bit odd to me. But then cricket probably does to a German.

Since the 2012 Olympics will be held in London, Great Britain has the right to show up with a team in every team sport. Which includes handball. The authorities could have decided that since handball is not really played in Britain, they wouldn't bother. But they took the opposite view, and have since been scouring Europe for dual nationality players, who can play the game. At which point, I have to admit to more than a passing interest. Because my younger son, aged 19, is one of those players. A goalkeeper who grew up playing handball in Denmark, he is now part of both the GB senior and under-21 squads. They tend to get thrashed by more established countries; but under the watchful eye of their Serbian trainer, they have from a standing start made quite a lot of progress. My son is not yet certain of playing in the Olympics, but he has got a good chance. Which would be terrific, if he made it.

Walter Blotscher