The World Games Chengdu 2025: First chance to secure a medal as Xinglong Lake welcomes semi-finals

10 Aug. 2025

The World Games Chengdu 2025: First chance to secure a medal as Xinglong Lake welcomes semi-finals

Xinglong Lake welcomes the penultimate day of the men’s and women’s beach handball competitions at The World Games Chengdu 2025 with the 5-8 placement round and semi-finals.

All 16 teams in the event are in action across two sessions which will feature The World Games history.

With 266 games played before Chengdu 2025 and 32 now completed, the current total sits on 298 played, so the second game which throws-off on day five will be game number 300 of beach handball in The World Games history.

On Sunday (10 August), the men’s quarter-final between Denmark and Germany was men’s game number 150 in The World Games history, while whichever of the 5-8 women’s placement round games scheduled for 1050hrs today (Monday 11 August) throws-off second will be game number 150 in the women’s competition history.  The 300th overall match in history in either gender will be the second match to start in the 1000hrs scheduled men’s 5-8 placement round today.

In total, 1,268 points have been scored in the men’s competition and 1,112 in the women’s competition of Chengdu 2025, the men’s game averaging 79 points per game and the women, 70.

All games will be streamed live and free, for further details, click HERE

Can anyone stop Argentina and Germany meeting in their second, successive global final?

A repeat of the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship final is a distinct possibility with the perfect form of Argentina and Germany – four wins each without conceding a set – making them favourites in their respective last four clashes on Monday.

On paper, Argentina have the toughest job – they play European champions Spain in the opening semi-final – but a victory from last year’s global event, also held in China, 2-1 (15:18, 21:20, SO 10:8) will give them confidence. 

“We're with a mind that it is the semi-final, it's just one match, everything we did here so far doesn't matter and what matters is the next step,” said Argentina’s Giselle Bonomi to ihf.info about the possibility of winning their third, consecutive medal after silver in 2017 and bronze in 2022. “We are concentrating on going one game at a time and minute-by-minute.”

The two sides have met previously at The World Games, Spain defeating Argentina in the opening game of Wroclaw 2017, 2-1 (15:11, 9:13, SO 5:4), but the South Americans would go on to reach the final.

“It’s amazing to be in semi-finals of another grand tournament,” said Spain’s Mireia Torras to ihf.info. “It's just an amazing feeling for us.”

The second semi-final of the day sees two teams who know each other well – Germany and Denmark. They met as recently as Saturday (9 August) in the preliminary group at Chengdu 2025, Germany winning 2-0 (18:10, 15:14). At China 2024 they beat each other, Denmark winning in the main round 2-0 (20:18, 21:12) and then Germany in the semi-final on their way to winning gold, 2-1 (25:22, 20:21, SO 9:8). 

“It would mean the world to me,” said Denmark’s Ditte Vind to ihf.info about having the chance to win a medal. “I haven't won one in beach handball since 2019 so I'm hungry for it. I feel like we deserve to be in the top spots one way or another, but sometimes it's also about luck. I've had finals, but it's not the same thing. 2019 is six years ago and I was a totally different person back then, and different player as well.”

In the 5-8 placement round, Vietnam play Portugal in the clash of The World Games debutants, and China take on Croatia with whichever match throwing off second going into the history books as the 150th women’s match overall. 

China and Croatia know each other well, meeting in the very first game of Chengdu 2025, the hosts winning 2-1 (13:20, 16:14, SO 8:6). They also met a year ago at the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship, that time Croatia taking a 2-1 (20:18, 16:18, SO 10:4) main round victory.

Who will fill the space left by title-holders Croatia?

After The World Games and World Championship title-holders Croatia were knocked out in the quarter-finals, the men’s competition is wide open for the four remaining teams.

First up is the derby match between Spain and Portugal, the two teams meeting last month, playing twice in Laredo, Spain, on the second stage of the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour.

Honours were split: Portugal taking a 2-1 (18:28, 25:20, SO 10:6) preliminary group win and then Spain winning the final 2-0 (24:22, 27:22).

“We’re very excited we’re in the semi-finals and very happy too,” said Spain’s Alberto Castro to ihf.info. “We know it will be a very, very difficult match, but we are very focused.”

If the clash goes to a shoot-out, then Portugal have one of the world’s best goalkeepers to help them go one better than their bronze earned at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship last year in China.

His name is Ricardo Castro.

“Every time I go for a shoot-out, I think to myself; ‘this is mine’,” he explained to ihf.info. “When I make a save I don't think I can find the words to describe it, but I say to myself; ‘okay, my work is done’ – I am just giving my help to the team, that's all. 

“We have played many times against Spain and it will be a very, very hard match that we will try to win.”

The other semi-final sees the teams having met just two days ago (Saturday 9 August). Brazil beat Germany in their preliminary group via shoot-out 2-1 (18:30, 21:20, SO 9:6), while at China 2024 last year, Germany won via the same way 2-1 (16:14, 16:18, SO 8:6).

“I became a player of Brazil in 2022 and was third place at the 2022 world championship in Greece and third at The World Games in the USA in 2022 too,” said Brazil’s Hugo Fernandes to ihf.info. “Now I want more, I want gold.”

Unsurprisingly, down the other end of the court, the goal is the same for Germany’s Robin John.

“We won the European Championships a few weeks ago and we want to win this too – there are two games to go and we want to win both,” he said. “All the German teams, from youth, to men, to women, play on the high level now and we are very proud about this quality of beach handball in Germany.

“People in Germany know it more and more, so we are happy, and we want to go on this direction more.”

The 5-8 placement round sees title-holders Croatia play Tunisia and China face Denmark in the 1000hrs session. China played Denmark on Saturday in the preliminary group stage, the European side winning 2-0 (27:20, 32:16).

Whichever games starts second will be the 300th beach handball match in the history of The World Games.

The World Games Chengdu 2025 – Beach Handball: Day 5 schedule
(All times local, CST)

Monday 11 August

Women’s Competition

5-8 Placement Round
1050 VIE vs POR
1050 CHN vs CRO

Semi-Finals
1530 ARG vs ESP
1710 GER vs DEN

Men’s Competition

5-8 Placement Round
1000 CRO vs TUN
1000 CHN vs DEN

Semi-Finals
1620 ESP vs POR
1800 BRA vs GER