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Handbollstränare 1988-2004

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In the landscape of Irish sport, Handball is an island within an island. Once hugely popular, it has since fallen into obscurity. Today the countryside is littered with abandoned alleys and crumbling old walls, the remains of a once great game whose time would appear to have passed. Less than 10,000 players remain. These athletes strive for immortality in a game most consider “dead”.

Handball was invented in Germany on October 29, 1917. Initially as a women's sport and later as the well-known, fast and competitive game that has clearly become the number two ball sport in Germany after soccer. This film delves deep into the archives and traces the eventful past of handball. It spans the arc from the 1936 Olympic victory to the 1978 and 2007 World Championships right up to the present day. The sensational success of the German handball team, who surprisingly became European champions in Poland in 2016, forms the backdrop.

Two friends, Manoj (Gihan De Chickera), a bartender, and Stanley (Dharmapriya Dias), a fruit vendor, wish to immigrate to the West to seek their fortune, but have difficulties getting their visa applications approved. They come across an application to a handball tournament in Bavaria, and not even knowing what the game is, they submit themselves and a group of friends as the "Sri Lanka National Handball Team". For appearance's sake, they begin minimal training and then seek travel visas from the German Embassy. Their plans to simply escape into the West upon arrival in Germany are thwarted by the quick appearance of the tournament organizers and an arena of fans eager to see the prowess of the Sri Lanka National Handball Team.