January has started the global sporting calendar with quite a bang. The Australian Open is throwing up some of the most exciting tennis matches we’ve seen in a while. Africa is glued to the Africa Cup. And here in Europe, attention is divided between winter sports and the European Handball Championship.

Held in Austria (19-31 January 2010), the event hosts sixteen of the most prolific handball teams on the continent competing for the title of the best team in Europe; the tournament also earns teams an automatic berth at the handball world championship.

As a first time viewer, I was amused – by the sport, its popularity and the boisterous fans; travelling great distances, to cheer their teams on and creating an intense atmosphere that most athletes crave and channel into great performances.

Played indoors, the game came across as a mash of football and basketball. It was only on closer observation that the skill and athleticism required in this fast paced contact sport came through; Handball is a 60 minute adrenalin rush.

As the fourteen players on the field (seven players per side, including two goal keepers) race about, producing spectacular goals every few minutes, it seems absolutely impossible to pin down a winner till they eventually emerge, with victory margins of two or three goals.

This particular game between Croatia and Russia was tightly contested, with the winning goal, from Croatia (they won 30-28), coming in the dying minutes of the game. Now I’m looking forward to the next few games.

Do you follow handball? What do you think about the sport? If you’re a sports fan, then one of my European travel tips would be to schedule your trip to combine watching sport and sightseeing in a destination.