As the 9th Men’s European Handball Championships in Austria draws to a close in Vienna, the President of the European Handball Federation, Tor Lian, has praised the event’s organisers, the Austrian Handball Federation.

Tor Lian said:”We are more than satisfied, the championship has been organised to an extremely high standard.”

With a reference to IOC President Samaranch’s description of the Sydney Olympic Games, Mr Lian, said: "I would suppose that if he (Juan Samaranch) were here now, he would describe these as the “Best Games Ever!”

“Future European Championships will have to a long way to match this event,” he added.

Vice President of the EHF, Jean Brihault, backed up the words of the President. “We have seen a great improvement from EURO to EURO, and I think now we are seeing the event reaching maturity.”

“The Championship has been very well and professionally organised. We are also very pleased to see fans here in Austria and at home not only following their own teams but also the great handball action and the progress of other teams. This is a significant development.”

President of the Austrian Handball Federation, Gerhard Hofbauer, made reference to the many “Magic Moments” at EURO 2010 in Austria.

For the sport, officials, media, players and fans the EHF EURO 2010 has been a tremendous success.

Over 1000 media representatives have been accredited for the two-week tournament, Austrian television achieved a record 340,000 viewers for the host’s final Main Round match against Croatia and between 120,000 and 130,000 handball fans have watched the games lives in the five venues.

For Hofbauer the icing on the cake has undoubtedly been the success of his national team, finishing in ninth place in their very first EURO and recording wins against Serbia and Russia and a draw against Iceland.