The Mysterious Disappearing Handball Team

Sri Lanka is trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of its “national handball team” while on tour in Germany, but it is no easy task — the Indian Ocean island doesn’t have one.

The 23-strong “team” managed to dupe the German Embassy in Colombo into issuing visas for a month-long tour beginning on September 8, acting German Ambassador Heidi Jung said on Thursday.

“There is no handball federation in Sri Lanka… We don’t even have a single club,” said Hemasiri Fernando, president of Sri Lanka’s Olympic Association.

(Reuters: “Mystery as ‘Handball Team’ Vanishes” [local version] [September 16, 2004])