Over 4,000 players representing 277 teams from across the whole of Spain will gather at la Zenia beach this week for the final phase of National Beach Handball Club Championships. The competition will get underway on Thursday 28 July, culmination with the finals which will be held on Sunday.

The details of the tournament were announced at a press conference last Friday fronted by the vice president of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation, Diana Box, a former International player and currently the councillor of sport in Torrevieja, and the mayor of the Orihuela, Carolina Gracia.

Box said that the championship welcomes all categories of player ranging from base through to open male and female groupings. “We will have a Beach Handball show”, she said.

Entries to the championship have broken all records with 277 teams from all over the national territory, represented by more than 4,000 players.

The competition will attract more than 20,000 overnight stays in the province, most of them in Orihuela and the Vega Baja region. The championship finals will also be broadcast on RTVE’s Teledeporte channel.

The Orihuela mayor, Carolina Gracia, said that “it is an immense honour for Orihuela to host this Spanish Beach Handball Championship. It is great news for our municipality and for the promotion of the sport”.