Josef Gotsch To Appear At Handball Tournament on Saturday

Queens Chronicle, Naeisha Rose / Associate Editor - Aug 20, 2021

State Sen. John Liu (D-Bayside) will host a handball tournament Saturday in conjunction with the U.S. Wallball Association in Queens Village. 

The event will be at Breininger Park, which is between Braddock Avenue and 240th Street, according to Liu’s office. The response to the tournament was so overwhelming that it reached its max capacity during registration with 16 teams for the doubles games and sixteen individuals for the singles games.

“Queens is the handball capital of the world and we have some of the greatest players living in our borough,” said Akshar Patel, Liu’s deputy chief of staff. “As a handball fanatic, Senator Liu saw an opportunity to gather the community together to enjoy a day of family friendly fun representing Queens through handball. Let’s play ball!” 

The tournament will have an appearance by Bayside native Josef Gotsch, a two-time World Handball medalist and it is a single elimination tournament with games to 11 points.

“I’m actually looking forward to it,” said Gotsch, who won a gold and bronze medal in 2018. 

Gotsch hopes that the tournament will grab the attention of kids and that parents will consider handball a sport that they would allow their children to play often, but most importantly, he hopes that the sport will be a part of future Olympic games. 

“We are very close to making it happen,” said Gotsch. “I think it’s great that more people are getting involved.”

The tournament is from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.