Płock in Poland was the destination for the third stage of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour this past weekend (22 – 23 July), with Germany's women and Denmark's men winning their respective competitions.

The men's competition started and ended with Denmark facing Croatia. In an extremely tight final, the Danes, led by Andreas Sondergaard Hogh in goal, took both sets by a single point 2-0 (21:20, 19:18), thanks to strikes from Frederik Bech Jensen. The first set had gone to a golden goal after an incredible strike from tournament MVP Ivan Dumencic, who brought it level at the death with an almost-impossible free throw.

The first Asian side to appear on the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour, Qatar, won bronze, defeating Poland 10:8 in a shoot-out. This was a repeat of their opener, also against the hosts, thanks to an 8:2 shoot-out win which saw Poland score just one of their five shots. Qatar could be thankful for 17 points from Mutasem Abdel Wahid Amohamed.

Croatia won their opening game against Denmark, 8:6 in a shoot-out, with Dumencic's solitary point winning the first set in a match which saw Ivan Juric and Josip Topic score 12 each for the Croatians and Denmark's Martin Andersen register 14. After both teams missed two shots in the five of the shoot-out, Jensen's miss proved costly, with Josip Leko's shot sealing the victory for Croatia.

23 points from Martin Andersen dispatched the Qataris in their second game against Denmark, as the Danes took a comfortable 2-0 (27:16, 22:15) victory.

There was some joy for the host nation with, arguably, the most impressive win of the weekend. Their 2-1 (12:20, 26:24, SO 9:8) defeat of Croatia was played in front of 1,200 spectators in the Old Town Square, with Michal Lapucha's point capitalising on Josip Topic's miss for Croatia in the shoot-out. Maciej Fabianowicz top-scored for Poland with 16 points.

The other two preliminary games saw Andersen's 26 points lead his Danish side to a 2-0 victory over Poland, while Croatia got back to winning shoot-out ways with a 7:6 victory over Qatar thanks to a Dumencic point after misses from Mohamed Ahmed Hassan and Hani Kakhi for the Asian side.

“We’re very happy to have won because we played against three strong teams,” said Andersen to ihf.info. “We weren’t satisfied with our first set in our first match, but besides that, we played some great beach handball at both ends. We were also the only team that managed to win a game 2-0, and actually did it three times.”

Andersen also took time out to praise his goalkeeper, Andreas Sondergaard Hogh, who ended the stage with not only the title but the best goalkeeper award too, part of an influx of a new generation of players joining the Danish squad.

“He is a young, upcoming goalkeeper for the future who played his first championship with the national team this summer,” explained Andersen about Hogh.

“Due to his style, he brings something new to our team. He’s a good listener. The way he has been performing so far, it’s a pleasure to have a young, dedicated player in the team. This year, we’ve had some younger players in the team and, therefore, I think the future looks good for us, but we’re fully aware it takes even more hard work and training hours to stay at the top.”

As for Andersen, he impressed in Płock, well clear at the top of the scoring charts with 77 points, making him the first-ever men's Danish beach handball player to clock up 1,000 points in the shirt.

“To be honest I think I played a great tournament in Poland,” he said. “As a player, and as a team, we always want to be on top. We’ve showed once again that we’re one of the best teams in the world at the moment and we put in a lot of effort watching other tournaments, practising and playing tournaments in all different kinds of countries.”

Final ranking

1. Denmark

2. Croatia 

3. Qatar

4. Poland

Photo: Paweł Bejnarowicz