A wave of international sporting events will be held in Medway, it has been announced.
Medway Park in Gillingham will host the European Handball Federation Challenge Cup on Saturday and Sunday, 13 and 14 October. The London GD Handball Club’s men’s team will take on Livingston Handball Club.
The teams will take to the court at 5.30pm on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday to decide who will progress to the next round of the European club competition. Tickets cost £10 for the weekend, under 16s go free. For more information, or to book tickets, visit www.londongdhandball.co.uk/ehf. Tickets will also be available on the door.
England’s table tennis teams will also compete at Medway Park on Tuesday, 20 November after Table Tennis England chose the centre to host the European Team Championship Stage 1 matches.
The competition will see the England women’s team take on Greece and the men’s team will compete against Serbia for a place in the next round of the competition.
This follows the success of the women’s European Team Championships match, which was held at Medway Park in 2016, when England defeated Slovenia in front of a packed crowd. Tickets cost £5 for adults and £3 for children under 16 and students, a family ticket, for two adults and two children, costs £10. Tickets can be bought online at www.tabletennisengland.co.uk, or on the door.
Another Medway venue has also been selected to host a major European club competition. Holcombe Park, home to Holcombe Hockey Club inRochester, has been announced as the venue for EuroHockey Women’s Club Trophy 2019.
The event, which Holcombe’s Ladies 1XI team won last year in Ireland, will see eight teams compete during a four-day tournament, from Friday, 19 April until Monday, 22 April 2019. Visiting club teams will be travelling from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Belgium, Spain, Scotland and Ireland to compete alongside the home team.
Cllr Howard Doe, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Community Services, said: “It is great news that Medway will once again host a number of international sporting events. We are looking forward to welcoming competitors and spectators to Medway. This is a fantastic opportunity for residents to watch international sporting events and I would encourage residents to go along.”
Medway Park has also made it to the final stage of the candidate process to become a host venue for the Rugby League World Cup in 2021. The official home of the England Wheelchair Rugby league – and host venue to previous world and European competitions – is bidding to host the wheelchair competition which for the first time is being given equal importance as the running version of the men’s and women’s game. A decision on the host cities for the tournament is expected in January 2019.