He was literally born on a football field, he was about to die on a football field as well and his destiny wrote that the life which smiled on him again that unforgettable night would be dedicated to beach handball!

The story of Panos Antonios coming from Cyprus is not ordinary and he made it even more unusual!

A member of the International Handball Federation working group, trainer and responsible for the appointment of referees and delegates of beach handball, Antoniou was born in 1950 in a football stadium, in the Palaiometocho of Cyprus: his mother felt the pain of giving birth watching her husband playing with the village team.

Panos Antoniou followed his father's footsteps, played football (in all positions of defense) in Omonia Nicosia, emerged as the greatest talent in Cyprus as a teenager and then followed the referee's career.

In September 1992, with the last whistle of the match Omonia-Olympiakos Nicosia, it collapsed on the field. "I was suffered a heart failure, I almost died and I was resurrected", he said, referring to the incident that completely changed his life and sent him to handball from football.

"At that time I did not even know what handball was, because it was not played in Cyprus". Some of my friends convinced me to join the newly formed federation and everything else is history", he emphasizes.

In this thirty-year history, Panos Antoniou was a member, General Secretary and Vice President of the Cyprus Federation until 2019. At the same time (1993-2021) he was a delegate of the European Federation and also a member, Vice President and Chairman of the Judicial Committee.

"Beach handball was launched on June 20, 1992 in Italy and I have been involved in the sport since 1996. Five years later I joined the committee that set its first rules and after thirty years I feel happy to have known, served and loved it so much", he explains, considering it highly honorable to be named an honorary member of the European Federation in 2021.

What is beach handball? "It's what defines our motto: easy to learn, easy to play and easy to understand", answers Panos Antoniou. "It is an exciting sport in which any team can achieve a great victory, achieve a reversal, win a medal. Here, the body type does not play such an important role, but the speed, while each period is a separate part and everything can happen in the process of shoot-out".

In support of his claim, Panos Antoniou cites the gold medal won by the Greek Women's National Team at the previous World Championship (Kazan, 2018) and the sixth place won by Cyprus at the 2002 European Championship in Spain, "something that could not ever happen in indoor handball".

What about the future? "I think it is very auspicious and we hope that the dream of his inclusion in the official program of the Summer Olympic Games will come true. It has been involved in the Youth Olympic Games since 2018, in Argentina, and we expect that it will be played as a demonstration sport in 2024 in Paris and will be included in the regular program in 2028 in Los Angeles. "Beach handball is growing rapidly, it is spreading to all continents and we are very happy that here in Heraklion, teams from countries such as Iran, Thailand and Jordan are participating".

As a prominent member of the beach handball family and carrying the experience of thirty years, Panos Antoniou does not hide his enthusiasm for the course of the organization of the 2022 Beach Handball World Championship and especially for the facilities in Karteros.

"I was speechless when I saw what has happened here and I warmly congratulated the Deputy Minister of Sports Lefteris Avgenakis and the General Manager Panagiotis Traikoglou. I told them - and I mean it - that "you took a desert and within two months you made it the best facility in the world for beach sports. It's really a gem".