Handball is a fast and furious seven-a-side sport, with anyone having grown up playing the game able to point to numerous broken bones and fractures earned in the course of matches. At the elite level, nations from across Europe, South America, Asia and Africa compete for dominance at the Olympic Games and the World Championships. The small but influential nation of Qatar on the Arabian Peninsula earned the right to host the International Handball Federation’s 24th Men’s Handball World Championships this January and February, a massive event that saw 24 national teams compete in 88 matches to a total attendance of over 300,000.
The championships were held across multiple venues, with three purpose built just for the event, including the 15,300 seat Lusail Sports Arena. The Arena was the backdrop for the most important games of the championships, as well as the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies. Australia’s David Atkins Enterprises produced the celebrations, with technical assistance from Auditoria’s Scott Willsallen. With experience earned on major sporting events around the globe including Olympic and Commonwealth Games, Sydney’s The P.A. People was chosen to provide communications services throughout the championships.
The P.A. People needed to be onsite as the Arena itself was being finished, carefully installing the communications infrastructure that would help the championships run smoothly. “The venue was still being built as we were installing,” explained Scott Davidson, Senior Systems Engineer – Event Communications for The P.A. People. “We had to pay close attention to detail, as our work not only had to run the event, but also stand up to the installation work happening around it.” With reliability, functionality and flexibility as the key performance requirements, The P.A. People chose multiple products from the ClearCom range of wired and wireless communications solutions.
