The penultimate day of the men’s and women’s beach handball competitions at The World Games Chengdu 2025 saw an action-packed day of 5-8 placement round and semi-final action.

Three of the four afternoon and early evening session semi-finals went to shoot-outs, highlighting the top level of quality and fine margins on show, while history was made in the early 5-8 placement round with milestones of beach handball recorded at The World Games.

To follow the beach handball competitions at The World Games, click HERE.

Argentina and Germany book repeat of 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship final

Germany women ended the fifth day of beach handball competition at The World Games Chengdu 2025 as the only team still with a perfect record having now won five straight games 2-0, without losing a set.

They beat Denmark 2-0 (21:14, 16:14) with Germany’s Lena Klingler dominating the scoring with 19 points. Despite a one-sided first set, which saw the Danes score just seven times, they came back in the second and the match was only sealed when Nele Kurzke stopped the final shot from Frida Ulrichsen in the last seconds.

The result meant it was Germany’s 14th consecutive win in The World Games, a run starting from their 5-8 placement match against Japan in the 2005 edition. They went on to beat Russia in Duisburg 20 years ago, but it would not be until 2022 that they returned to the competition, winning seven games on their way to gold in the USA three years ago.

Added to their five victories in China now, it means they have now beaten the previous record of Brazil men’s team, which lasted for 13 games – but in consecutive The World Games appearances in 2009, 2013 and 2017, all three of which they won gold.

The match was also super-special for Germany captain Kirsten Walter, who received a special memento from the German Handball Federation, handed over by Team Manager Jens Pfander, to mark 100 appearances with the national team – the first beach handball player from the European country to make this milestone.

Much closer than the all-European affair was the early semi-final between world championship silver medallists Argentina and European champions Spain. An action-packed game saw the South Americans win 2-1 (20:15, 14:15, SO 6:4), via shoot-out, but they had a chance to win in the second set, but missed setting up a goal as the clock restarted with a few seconds left at 14:15 down.

That would have been a remarkable comeback in a set which saw a disastrous start for Leticia Brunati’s side. After just three minutes they were 9:0 behind, resulting in one of the earliest-ever time-outs taken by the Youth Olympic Games gold medal-winning coach.

The shoot-out started in dramatic fashion too, after Gisella Bonomi had put the South Americans ahead. 

Spain’s first taker, Asun Batista, came together with Argentina goalkeeper, Alma Molina, after the shot-stopper block her shot at close range, and the drama was increased with the legendary player requiring lengthy treatment on court.

Eventually, Batista left the court holding her ribs and to respectful applause but it got worse for the Europeans, Jimena Laguna missing her strike next. Round three and four shots were both tucked away by the two teams and so it went to the last shot each, Argentina only needing a single point for victory, at 6:4 up. The second chance to win the match came and went though as Fiorella Corimberto shot across her body only to see the ball smash the left post and away to safety for Spain.

But the Spanish were given another chance to stay in the game. This fell to Mireia Torras, but as she was in air, spinning to shoot, Molina closed her down and the Spanish player could only shoot against the Argentina body and the game was decided. 

With the result, Argentina have now guaranteed a third, successive The World Games medal after silver in 2017 and bronze in 2022.

In the 5-8 placement round an impressive 21-point haul from Portugal’s Sara Pinto helped guide her side to a 2-1 (26:18, 14:21, SO 12:10) in the clash against fellow debutants Vietnam.  The shoot-out had gone to a second round after Thi Thanh Huyen Dam and Sofia Goncalves had both missed, but the miss from Vietnam’s Ngoc Trinh with the second shot in the second round proved costly.

China and Croatia made history in the other match with their game the 150th women's beach handball game played in The World Games history. And it proved to be a perfect game for China’s Shen Ping. Her golden goal in each set adding to her total of 19 points and securing China’s second victory over the hosts in Chengdu, 2-0 (22:20, 17:16).

2024 World championship bronze medal match gets upgrade as Germany and Portugal book gold medal spot

Ahead of the semi-final between Portugal and Spain, Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo Castro told ihf.info that, “every time I go for a shoot-out, I think to myself; ‘this is mine’,” and so it proved today as he was, once again, the difference maker for his country – debutants in the competition this year.

Portugal beat their neighbouring rivals 2-1 (16:14, 18:20, SO 5:2) but it was Castro’s three saves from Adria Ortola, Gonzalo Cervera and Rodrigo Pelaez Vallejo in the shoot-out which was, ultimately, the difference between these two sides.

His side had missed two of their own shots, through Simao Santos’ opener and Francisco Santos’ fourth-round strike, but with Castro in such fine form it appears that you do not even need to score all five – three were enough, and even then, the third was a single point, Jose Silva ensuring he set off wild scenes.

After their women’s team had got through to the final just moments earlier on the same court, Germany’s men took to the Chengdu sand for the last game of the penultimate day knowing that Brazil were desperate to get back to their natural home at The World Games – the final. 

The South American side are the last, remaining ever-present team in The World Games, and three-time winners. A first set dominance (22:16) put them well on track to book their fourth final, but Marten Franke’s team came back to take a 19:16 second set and take it to a shoot-out.

Like Castro, Germany can rely on one of the world’s best beach handball goalkeepers in Moritz Ebert and he made it count in an 8:6 win.

First, he saved from Marcelo Tuller, then a different type of shot from Nailson Amaral than was expected saw him save down to this left for Brazil’s third. 

Despite this, Germany had also missed two – including a quite incredible block from Cristiano Rossa against Lennart Wormann who saved with what appeared to be he his hip and the ball going off court after hitting the post.

So it went to the second round and after Lars Zelser made sure with an emphatic finish, Ebert once again worked his magic, stopped Renan Carvalho to put Germany in their first-ever final after finishing fourth in their only previous appearance to date, in 2005.

2024 World Championship finalists Croatia and Denmark found themselves in the 5-8 placement round after there knocked out of contention on Sunday – and they certainly made their feelings known. 

Lucian Bura recorded an incredible 30 points for the Croatians in their 2-0 (28:20, 24:17) victory over Tunisia, while Denmark recorded the most-ever single set points in The World Games, with their 41 second set total helping them to a 2-0 win against China. Martin Andersen scored 23 points for the Danes.

After the men’s quarter-final between Denmark and Germany on Sunday had been confirmed as the 150th men's beach handball game played in The World Games history, Denmark added their name to the history books again, with their match against China the 300th The World Games beach handball game played in history.

The World Games Chengdu 2025 – Beach Handball: Day 5 results

Monday 11 August

Women’s Competition

5-8 Placement Round
VIE vs POR 1-2 (18:26, 21:14, SO 10:12)
CHN vs CRO 2-0 (22:20, 17:16)

Semi-Finals
ARG vs ESP 2-1 (20:15, 14:15, SO 6:4)
GER vs DEN 2-0 (21:14, 16:14)

Men’s Competition

5-8 Placement Round
CRO vs TUN 2-0 (28:20, 24:17)
CHN vs DEN 0-2 (14:28, 20:41)

Semi-Finals
ESP vs POR 1-2 (14:16, 20:18, SO 2:5)
BRA vs GER 1-2 (22:16, 16:19, SO 6:8)