The Olympia Hengelo Team
Mr. Henk Versteeg identifies his Olympia Hengelo teammates in the pre match picture.
Our friend of the blog, Evelien van Gelder, recently met with Mr. Henk Versteeg at his home. Henk is an honorary member of the Olympia Hengelo club. Now 94 years old, he, with the help of his wife Ida, successfully identified most of the players in the historical team photo below. Henk himself is standing fourth from the right. For more information about the original match, see here.
Left to right: Unknown, Henk Kuipers, Frits Textor, Eldest son of Bert Kasteel, Alex Kok, Henk Hegeman, Ab Mastenbroek (goalkeeper), Gerrit Ebbink, Hans Horselenberg, Jacob Borgman, Henk Versteeg, Jan Karmerood (coach), Referee, Arie Keppels (coach).
This Olympia Hengelo lineup represented some of the finest Dutch handball talent of the era. Just five years after this match, the Dutch men's national team qualified for the 1961 World Championship in West Germany for the first and only time (a tournament ultimately won by Romania). Three of the players pictured here, goalkeeper Ab Mastenbroek, Hans Horselenberg, and Henk Kuipers, went on to represent the Netherlands on that historic national team, alongside their Olympia teammate Wim Meyers.
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