Serbia is hosting the 2012 EHF Euro Handball Championship from 15-29 January, with the Group B preliminary round matches taking place in Niš's Sportski Centar Čair, which has been extensively renovated for the event and can now hold up to 4000 spectators in modern facilities.

While Group B may not include the Serbian team (which is playing its Group A matches in Belgrade), it does feature tournament favourites Germany and Sweden, as well as feisty underdogs from the Czech Republic and Macedonia, guaranteeing that there will some exciting hard-fought matches to watch early on.

Always near the top of the world rankings, the Serbian team may not be the odds on favourites to win the event, but star player Momir Ilić - who plays club handball for perennial German powerhouse THW Kiel - says that anything short of a medal should be considered a failure for the home team, although he did realistically stop short of guaranteeing outright victory.

Serbian head coach Vuković Veselin - who was also a very accomplished player during his 10-year international career - echoes Ilić's hope for a medal and thinks that the home crowd advantage will definitely help propel the team to a strong showing.

If you have a chance to make it to Belgrade later in the month, the semifinals are scheduled for Friday, 27 January, while the finals will take place two days later on 29 January, both at Belgrade Arena.

And as Europe is widely regarded as home to the best handball in the world, the tournament will likely provide a preview of the top competition at the 2012 Olympics in London later in the year - at much cheaper prices!

Fireworks mark start of Handball Championship

Fireworks in four Serbian cities marked the beginning of the jubilee 10th European Men's Handball Championship on Sunday.

The championship's host cities are Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Vrsac.

The ceremonial opening will be held in the Belgrade sports hall Pionir as of 17:35 CET.

The tournament, whose defending champion is France, will last by January 29.