1 History of Beach Handball It all begins in Italy in 1992: The history of the sports game Beach Handball starte on the "Isola di Ponza", a little island in South Italy, on June 20th, Gianni Buttarelli and Franco Schiano (two presidents of handball team in Italy) had the idea of "Handballbeach, because of the lack of indoor halls on the island. 1

First Tournament in 1992: The first Beach Handball tournament worldwide took place at the beach of San Antonio in Ponza a month later (in July 1992). The teams of Gaeta 84 Contax, Ciampino, Roma Populinier, Lazio Sequax as well as Polyot Celjabinsk (Ural) competed on a floodlit court for the first-ever victory at a Beach Handball tournament. 1 History of Beach Handball 2

Foundation of the COHB in 1992: Later that same year (1992), Gianni Buttarelli and Franco Schiano founded the Comitato Organizzatore Handball Beach (COHB) in Italy, which was the first organized association world-wide representing Beach-Handball. The international Italian referee Giampiero Masi was in charge of fixing the rules of this young sport. Giampiero Masi became later the chairman of the IHF Beach Handball Working Group. 1 History of Beach Handball 3

First International Tournament in 1993: The first official international Beach Handball tournament was staged under Buttarellis leadership in Rome in The Junior National Teams of Algeria, Taiwan and the Russian province Ural, the Military Selection Team of Italy, as well as the Junior Select Team of TSV Bartenbach (Germany) were the participants. 1 History of Beach Handball 4