Young referees show their skills at Lundaspelen

For the fifth year the European Handball Federation has joined forces with the Lundaspelen in Sweden, the world's largest indoor handball tournament, to provide members of its Young Referees Programme with a chance to show their skills on a competitive level.

Six pairs from six nations were nominated for the five-day event from 26 to 30 December: Jose Alberto Macias de Paz and Ernesto Ruiz Vergara from Spain, Florine Martineau and Julie Tissier from France, Diego di Casola and Niccolo Panetta from Italy, Ilir Bytyqi and Syart Kasapi from Kosovo, Jaap Klompers and Koen Stobbe from Netherlands as well as Natalie Lundgren and Madelene Styberg from Sweden.

In addition, two EHF Referee Lecturers, Peter Olsson and Peter Hansson from Sweden as well as the German EHF Coaching Lecturer Klaus Feldmann were appointed by the EHF in order to guide the young referees during the tournament.

The EHF's Young Referees Programme was already launched in 1990's and is designed to support the development of promising young handball referees.

The Lundaspelen have been existing since 1978.

It is the world's largest indoor handball tournament with more than 500 teams in ten different age categories for boys and girls from 14 different nations.