SCOTLAND’S Dan McMillan believes the performances of Britain’s handball team at the Olympic Games will ensure the sport begins to prosper across the UK.
In their first ever appearance at an Olympics, the men’s team were unable to win any of their preliminary stage matches, but got stronger as the Games went on and surprisingly ran Beijing silver-medallists Iceland close in their final encounter.
Broxburn-born McMillan admits they could have performed better earlier in the competition, but he was delighted with the reaction of the home fans in London.
He now hopes those who have taken a keen interest in their results will continue to support handball beyond the Olympics.
“We know we are better than we played in the first four games,” admitted the 29-year-old.
“We have the tools and the players in the right positions to be a competitive team. When everything clicks it’s amazing to see we can play very well.
“We put everything we could into every single game, anybody who saw us play will hopefully take away what they saw, as opposed to what they may read in the newspapers.
“Going forward, hopefully it is going to be very exciting. I know people close to me have been asking where can they get clubs and start playing, and it’s fantastic to know that handball in the UK has the potential to sky-rocket.
“Hopefully it can be exciting times going forward towards Rio.”