With the British team qualifying automatically for the next Olympic
competition, this week they host a Four Nations Invitational Tournament,
with the opposition provided by Latvia, the Faroe Islands and the Turkey
Under-21 team.

The British Handball Association have taken up camp in Aarhus in
Denmark, at a sports academy equipped to accommodate the budding team,
so the tournament in Sheffield will be the first chance for spectators
in the UK to see the players in action close up.

Team manager Melanie Chowns said: "Clearly it's a great opportunity for
us to show Britain how we're performing and to show as many people as
possible how we're doing.

"All three teams have been picked so that we will be challenged, we have
the possibility to compete with them.

"We played the Faroes in March in the European Handball Federation
Challenge Trophy and we beat them, whereas two years previously they had
beaten us by 40 goals. So again that's an example of our progress.

"We're now trying to compete with the likes of Denmark and getting very
close. All three will be very close, competitive games because that's
the level we need to be competing at now."

Team GB players live and train full-time in Denmark with professional
handball coaches, while in 2007 UK Sport started the Talent ID
initiative to search for potential athletes for the next Olympic team.

Part of the initiative was the 'Sporting Giants' programme, which
searched for youngsters aged 16 to 25 and over 190cm tall with the
specific aim of introducing them to sports including handball.

A scouting project is also under way across Europe - where the sport is
widely popular - to find handball players who may be eligible to
represent Britain.

"This tournament gives us the opportunity to pull in some players who
are not quite yet in the squad," explained Chowns.

"We're also looking at new players who have the possibility to be
eligible for Great Britain, players who perhaps have one British parent
and one European parent."

South Korea were in a similar situation when Seoul hosted the Olympics
in 1988. Yet this summer at the Beijing Games their women's side took
the bronze medal.

Chowns said: "Ultimately it's about where we're at in four years rather
than where we are now. We're realistic, it's going to be difficult for
us to get a medal, but if you speak to the players they obviously want
one and that's the right attitude.

"So for us it's about the progress and we've made fantastic progress in
two years. So now we want to work our way up the rankings so in four
years' time we can make sure we can be competitive at the Olympics."

Team GB begin the Four Nations Tournament on Thursday at 6.30pm against
Turkey at Sheffield's English Institute for Sport, before facing Latvia
and the Faroes at the same time on the following days.