They won’t go missing (as it happened in 2004 in Germany and later shown in a film named ‘Machan’) because this tournament is held in Bangladesh, not in a affluent European country, said Sri Lanka handball team manager Gihan Dalpethado. That was before the 17-member Sri Lanka handball team flew to Dhaka, Bangladesh, for the 11th South Asian Games last Thursday (28).

This will in fact be the first real international exposure for the newly formed Sri Lanka handball team.

In 2004, a fake national handball team had taken part in a German Sports Exchange Programme (GSEP) invitational tournament. That team had been formed not really to play handball but to find a means to enter Europe by defying the strict immigration laws in place.

"We’ve pretty realistic medal prospects this time", says Dalpethado. "We practised hard. But the only hindrance we have is not having a clear idea about our opponents, simply because this is the very first time we are playing a game abroad. We’re a whole new outfit."

Handball (also known as team handball, Olympic handball or European handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outfield players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball to throw it into the goal of the opposing team. The team with the most goals after two periods of 30 minutes wins. Modern handball is usually played indoors, but outdoors variants exist in the form of field handball (which was more common in the past) and beach handball. (Source: www.11sagdhaka2010.com.bd)

Ahead of the SAG, the Sri Lanka team practised for two and a half months at three different venues; Diyatalawa, Ambepussa and Vennappuwa.

Sri Lanka is placed in Group ‘A’, along with India and Pakistan. Handball, one of the 23 sport disciplines in this year’s SAG, will be held from Feb. 1 to 6 at the Handball Stadium of the main SAG venue in Dhaka.

This may not be the first time a SL handball team competes at international level.

Read the following BBC news item that appeared on their website on Sep. 15, 2004:

‘Sri Lanka handball team vanishes’

German authorities say they are puzzled by the disappearance of the entire national handball team from Sri Lanka.

German Sports Exchange Programme (GSEP) organiser, Dietmer Doering, said: "We initially thought the team had got lost in the nearby woods while jogging."

But he said a note had been found saying the 23-strong team had gone to France. "We now know they crossed into Italy," Doering said.

"They even left their dirty laundry," he added.

Doering told Priyath Liyanage of the BBC Sinhala service that the organisers were feeling extremely let down by the incident.

"This will be the last time we will be doing this. I am not planning to invite any more teams from Sri Lanka," he said.

"The entire team of 23 men, including the coach and the manager, has taken off."

The handball team was taking part in a programme in which teams from both countries visited each other for friendly games.

The sports ministry in Sri Lanka said the trip was not authorised.

Handball is a sport very rarely played in Sri Lanka and the formation of a national team was a mystery, according to the ministry spokesman.

The performance of the team had been poor throughout the tournament.

Doering said that until now the exchange programme had been successful.

"Different sports teams from Sri Lanka have been taking part in the project for nearly 15 years," he said. (BBC, Sep. 15, 2004).

Four years later in 2008, being thoroughly intrigued by the above story, Italian film-maker Uberto Pasolini made a movie named ‘Machan’. It portrayed the above adventurous yet somewhat humorous story of 23 Sri Lankans migrating to Europe illegally by forming a false ‘national handball team’.

Pasolini wrote the film script with Sri Lanka’s Ruwanthie de Chickera after doing a hectic study on the events that led to the Lankans’ trip to Germany. The team, that was simply clueless about how they should play indoor handball in a tournament, managed to only a single goal in about two, three matches — that too quite accidentally — yet they spontaneously stage a rousing mid-court celebration, to receive a standing ovation from some elated spectators. Days later, the Lankans went missing from their team hotel just before the Police surrounded the place.