80-year jubilee for Slovak Handball Federation celebrated in Bratislava

The Slovak Handball Federation (SZH) celebrated its 80th anniversary on Thursday, 16 February, in a ceremony hosted in the Smíchovský dvor restaurant in Bratislava.

On the occasion of the 80-year jubilee, many international guests gathered in the Slovak capital, with the living members of the Slovak Handball Hall of Fame and the IHF Treasurer Anna Rapp present. 

"Eighty years in human life is a long time. I believe that for the Slovak Handball Federation, it was just a small moment that will continue for a very long time," said the current president of the SZH, Jaroslav Holeša, in his opening speech after welcoming special guests to the Exhibition Hall of Professor Vladimír Černušák of the Slovak Olympic and Sports Museum in the House of Sports in Bratislava.

"For a person, 80 years is a respectable age, basically already the autumn of life, but for us it should only be a kind of moment. Since new people keep coming into the SZH, we believe that they will pull another 80 years to make things better. New faces make our Federation better all the time," added Holeša.

The presidents of other national federations, Francisco Blázquez from Spain and Ondřej Zdráhala from the Czech Republic, honoured the memorial ceremony with their participation, as did the president of the European Handball Federation, Michael Wiederer.

The president of the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee (SOŠV), Anton Siekel, the newly appointed secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, Richard Nemec, and the general director of the sports section of the Slovak Ministry of Education and Sports, Peter Dedík, were also present.

"It is an honour to congratulate you on behalf of the IHF and the entire handball family. Slovakia has been a member of the IHF since 1993, but this nation left its mark on international handball even earlier. When we see the determination of the Slovak Federation, we are sure that handball will continue to grow step by step," said the IHF Treasurer Anna Rapp.

Over the past 80 years, SZH has been headed by nine presidents: Emil Otřísal, Ladislav Gross, Ľubomír Zeman, Imrich Farkaš, Jozef Zápražný, Ladislav Gross (for his second term), Jozef Korec, Peter Murín, Pavol Derfényi and Jaroslav Holeša. Two of them - (Zápražný and Holeša - personally took part in the ceremony.

A cross-section of the history of handball, which featured unique photos from the distant and recent past (the Slovak Olympic and Sports Museum provided 600 photos in digitised form), was offered to those present at the ceremony.
 
Miroslav Jursík, one of the members of the Slovak Handball Hall of Fame, then discussed the greatest achievements made by Slovak handball in its history – gold medals at the 1957 IHF Women's World Championship and at the 1967 IHF Men's World Championship and the silver medal from the 1972 Munich Olympic Games as part of the men's national team (back than as Czechoslovakia).

Photos: Slovak Handball Federation