Oceania Handball Federation
| Type | Sport federation |
|---|---|
|
Membership
|
21 members |
|
Official language
|
English |
|
President
|
Ricardo Blas 
|
| Website | OCHF.org |
The Oceania Continent Handball Federation (OCHF) is the governing body for the Olympic sport of Handball in Oceania. It is affiliated to the International Handball Federation (IHF). The OCHF is administered by an executive committee elected annually by its members. The OCHF members are the local governing Handball federations in countries within the Oceania region that are also members of the IHF.
The first Oceania Handball Federation (OHF) was founded on the 9th July 1993, by Mr. Alexander Dimitric in Sydney, Australia. In 1994, the first ever Oceania Senior Men's and Women's Championships were held in the Australian Capital city of Canberra, at the Australian Institute of Sport. This inaugural event was played between New Zealand and Australia Senior Men's and Women's teams in which Australia prevailed in both.
In 1995, the first ever Oceania Junior Championships were held for men and women (Porirua, New Zealand). Australia won the Junior Men's Championship and New Zealand won the Junior Women's Championships. Although these games were called Continental championships, only Australia and New Zealand took part in these early days.
From 1998-2009, Mr. Vernon Winitana (New Zealand) was President of the Oceania Handball Federation. He was first elected to this position in December 1998 (Mittagong, NSW, Australia), then re-elected in May 2003 (Porirua, New Zealand). In 2000, Mr. Winitana joined the International Handball Federation and held the position of 'Vice-President', onbehalf of Oceania.
Between 1998-2008 much work and support was done to promote and grow the sport of Handball throughout the Pacific in order to grow the membership with other Pacific Nations. This was a requirement set by the IHF (that in order for Oceania to be fully recognized as a Continental Federation the IHF required 7 full members to join the OHF). During this time, Olympic Solidarity programmes were held throughout the Pacific including: Australia (Mittagong, NSW), Samoa, Cook Islands and Vanuatu to name a few, early contact and work was also done in Fiji and Tonga. The result of this work saw the Cook Islands and Samoa Handball Association's gained full membership of the IHF in 2000, shortly followed by Vanuatu. The Samoan Handball Association presented their first ever National Junior Women's team to compete at the Oceania Junior Championships in 1999, (Porirua, NZ) which was won by New Zealand.
In 2000 the IHF made big efforts to promote Handball in Oceania because of the upcoming Sydney Olympics which were held in 2000. The legendary coach Bengt Johansson (Sweden) was sent to support on site, economic support was given, development aid granted and additional help sent wherever possible. Alex Gavrilovic from Handball Australia was the Olympic Handball Competition Manager at 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney and was pivotal in showcasing Handball in this region, to the World. This was a big highlight in the history of Handball in the Oceania region. Mr. Gavrilovic also went on to play the same role for Handball programme at the 2011 London Olympics.
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