Sports news and briefs

Mikkel Hansen has been named the 2011 IHF World Player of the Year – the first ever Dane to win a handball honour award that started back in 1988. Voted for by fans, media and an IHF panel, Hansen received 31 percent of the votes, ten clear of his next nearest rival, last year’s winner Filip Jicha of the Czech Republic. During 2011, Hansen helped Denmark to the final of the World Championships.

FC Copenhagen are offering free tickets to fans following the less than cordial spring season kickoff on Sunday. The initiative is to show that football and fan culture are about the love of the game and not the violent scenes the unfolded in Aalborg. FCK will be hosting SønderjyskE on Sunday at 4pm. Get your free tickets at www.sammenhold.fck.dk.

Despite losing three of their five games, women’s handball side FC Midtjylland Håndbold remain on course for the semis of the Champions League following a 27-20 defeat of Norwegian rivals Larvik. They need to beat bottom-placed Spanish side Itxako on Saturday to qualify. FCM are the only Danish side left in the tournament after Viborg HK and Randers HK were eliminated in the first group phase.

Danish golfer Line Vedel shot a final round 74 to finish 16th equal in the World Ladies Championship held in China last weekend. Tenth at the halfway cut thanks to rounds of 71 and 70, the 23-year-old was already six shots behind the leaders and failed to mount a challenge over the weekend. Meanwhile, fellow Danes Malene Jorgensen and Julie Tvede missed the cut.

Following on from Kevin Magnussen’s promotion at Formula One team McLaren, another young promising Dane has been signed up – this time by Lotus. Marco L Sørensen, 21, will this year compete for the Team Lotus Junior Team in the World Series 3.5, with F1 test-driving a possibility in 2013. Lotus were keen to emphasise how Sørensen had succeeded “solely because of talent”.

Danish First Division club FC Vestsjælland will exchange knowledge and expertise with the Indian I-League outfit Shillong Lajong, following Anglian Holdings’ acquisition of stakes in both clubs as part of its diversification into the global game. The multinational’s Indian owner is keen to improve football in his country and hopes the Vikings’ expertise will help take Lajong’s game to “the next level”.

Handball’s ruling body, the IHF, has confirmed that Denmark will enter the Olympics as one of the bottom seeds. Originally a top seed after finishing in the top four in the 2011 Worlds, Denmark were demoted for winning the Euros, joining the other winners of the continental championships. Complaints ensued but the IHF has held firm, even though two of the top four seeds have not yet qualified.

Brøndby’s Danish international winger Michael Krohn-Dehli is reported to be a transfer target of several Dutch and German clubs, and his agent Søren Lerby told media that he would move, but that it “needs to be the right club for him”. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich is believed to be considering a summer move for Niklas Bendtner. 

Caroline Wozniacki last week confessed that she might feel nervous before her next game – an exhibition match against Maria Sharapova on Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City – so it was just as well that she had a boyfriend, world number one golfer Rory McIlroy with her to hold her hand. And egged on by the crowd, he even stepped up to play a rally with Sharapova – a point he actually managed to win.