The handball trip of India started just a few months ago, when they national team was first assembled. The preparation lasted two weeks and the national Women’s Youth team played at the 8th Asian Beach Handball Games in Bangkok where they won the silver medal, behind hosts Thailand and ahead of Hong Kong, the only teams that participated in a competition hit by Covid-19.

But that was enough to give Cyril Ntsouza's team a ticket to the World Championship, currently being held at the Karteros Beach Sports Centre.

"Beach handball is widespread in India. In Mumbai alone, there are 120 school teams U8, U10, U12, U14, U16. We pay close attention to these ages to build for the future.

"Across the country, there are more than 5,000 athletes, who play handball", explains Dzuza, who managed to make the trip to Greece through sponsorships from his former high school students, including the famous chef Sanzev Kapoor.

The ambitions are high and relatively long-term for the Indian National beach handball team and Dzuza has a vision that he intends to realise.

"Girls like it because it is more impressive than handball in the hall, faster, it has no contact. We may have come here with just two weeks of preparation, but the girls are having fun.

 “But the goals are high. We want to reach the highest level. To compete against teams that have distinctions. We want to reach the top in 2-3 years. To win a medal in both the next World and the Youth Olympic Games.

The two years of the pandemic affected us with the lack of training, but we can do it".

Clearly the barhas been set very high, and the plan looks extremely ambitious, especially in a country where cricket is a national sport. But in a country with 1.4 billion inhabitants, the mission to find the right talents and help them progress with the right guidance,is not impossible.